Jury selection for alleged Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev continued on Thursday, Jan. 22. But Tsarnaev’s defense lawyers filed yet another motion to change the venue of the trial, citing what they contend to be an overwhelming predisposition towards a verdict along with having a direct connection to the case.
The defense is basing its claims on questionnaires submitted by all 1,373 possible jurors. The motion states that “great local prejudice will prevent a fair trial by an impartial jury in violation of Mr. Tsarnaev’s constitutional rights to due process of law and a fair trial.”
The supporting memorandum states that 85 percent of the prospective jurors either already believe Tsarnaev is guilty, or have identified some kind of direct connection, or both.
Of prospective jurors, 68 percent believe he’s guilty before hearing witnesses’ testimony and seeing any evidence. And 69 percent said they’re directly connected to, or have “expressed allegiance” to, the people and places involved in the bombings.
Some interesting analysis from the questionnaires shows that a majority of potential jurors have already formed an opinion as to whether Tsarnaev is guilty, that he should receive the death penalty, and that they would be unable to set aside their opinion based solely on the evidence presented to the court.
Juror No. 82, for example, according to the memorandum, said was on record saying, “growing up in Boston and this kid is from another country and kills innocent people!”
Juror No. 98 said “I am set in ways and this kid is GUILTY.”
And juror No. 75 said, “make sure he gets what he deserves.”
Jury selection in general has proceeded slower than originally thought. However, in both prior motions to relocate the trial, Judge George O’Toole denied them.
“In such a high-profile case as we have now, there should be no doubt about the integrity of the process, so it is unfortunate that motions from the Tsarnaev defense team to move the trial out of state have been denied,” Christopher Ott, communications director for the Massachusetts chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, told BostInno in an email.
The most recent attempt was filed on Dec. 1. Between then and the judge’s order for denial on Jan 2., several supportive documents were filed by the defense in support of the motion including the citation of an Associated Press headline that read Marathon Bombing Aftermath Was Top Massachusetts Story of 2014 and direct comparisons of the Charlie Hebdo attacks in Paris to the bombings.
