The trial for alleged Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was expected to begin on Monday, Jan. 26. Instead, jury selection is still ongoing in hopes of finding the most impartial bench possible, and now, Winter Storm Juno poses more timing issues.
Jury selection has proven to be a slower (perhaps more painstaking?) process than originally thought. Kicking off on Jan. 5, the legal proceedings quickly fell behind schedule on the first day when 40 potential jurors were supposed to be questioned by Judge George O’Toole, and by the start of day three, only 34 had gone through questioning.
According to the case docket, jury selection began on Monday, Jan. 26, without skipping a beat.
The imminent inclement weather, though, will delay jury selection on Tuesday, Jan. 27. Winter Storm Juno is expected to drop between 20 and 30 inches of snow on Boston, tying up most (if not all) municipal operations. The District Court of Massachusetts is no exception.
Judge begins Tsarnaev jury questioning by canceling Tuesday voir dire b/c of the storm, says Wednesday is “iffy.”
— Mike Hayes (@michaelhayes) January 26, 2015
Judge O’Toole acknowledges that Tsarnaev jury questioning is going slower than anticipated, but is not discouraged. “Making real progress.”
— Mike Hayes (@michaelhayes) January 26, 2015
On Thursday, Jan 22., Tsarnaev’s defense team filed its third motion to relocate the trial to a venue outside of Boston.
An accompanying memo offered data to back up the reasoning, stating that 68 percent of the more than 1,300 potential jurors predetermined that Tsarnaev is already guilty. Another 69 percent said they’re directly connected to, or have “expressed allegiance” to, the people and places involved in the bombings, and a total of 85 percent thought the former, the latter and/or both.
Judge O’Toole has yet to rule on the motion to relocate, but he denied the previous two attempts by the defense and their attempts to delay the trial as far back as September of 2015.
