Dzhokhar Tsarnev Sketch via Art Lien

On Thursday, December 18, alleged Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev will be in federal court for a pretrial hearing. This will be the first time Tsarnaev will appear in a courtroom since he was arraigned in July 2013.

According to the U.S. District Court of Massachusetts – Boston trial schedule, Tsarnaev will appear before Judge George O’Toole at 10 a.m. in Courtroom 9 on the building’s third floor. The trial is slated to commence on January 5, 2015, and USA Today estimates it’ll last for approximately seven months.

Thursday’s hearing is expected to pertain to jury selection.

Back in September, Tsarnaev’s defense team filed a motion to relocate the trial out of Massachusetts and to delay it until September 2015, but Judge O’Toole ruled Tsarnev will receive just as fair a trial in the Bay State as elsewhere, though he did reschedule it from November 2014 to early January. There’s still a motion pending, however, to move the trial out of Boston.

In October, Robel Phillipos, a friend of Tsarnaev’s, was found guilty of lying to investigators when questioned about the removal of evidence from Tsarnaev’s UMass Dartmouth dorm room. Dias Kadyrbayev and Azamat Tazhayakov discarded a backpack full of Tsarnaev’s belongings, including a laptop and fireworks, upon learning Tsarnaev was wanted by authorities in 2013. They were also convicted, and all three are awaiting sentencing.

Tsarnaev stands accused of detonating two pressure cooker bombs at the finish line of the Boston Marathon, along with his now-deceased older brother Tamerlan (who died in a firefight with police, state troopers and FBI in Watertown just days after the infamous incident), killing three and injuring hundreds. The brothers are also thought to be responsible for the murder of MIT police officer Sean Collier, who was shot in cold blood while sitting in a police cruiser.

Tsarnaev faces 30 federal charges, including the use of weapons of mass destruction. If convicted, he could face the death penalty.

Dzhokhar Tsarnev Sketch via Art Lien
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