Jury Selection Resumes for Boston Bombings Trial
Jury selection in the trial of alleged Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev resumed Thursday after a massive snowstorm forced the U.S. federal court to close for two days.
It is the latest setback to the trial's schedule.
Judge George O'Toole initially expected opening arguments to begin January 26 but even before the storm, the timetable slipped because jury selection has taken longer than expected.
Tsarnaev, 21, faces the death penalty if convicted over the April 15, 2013 attacks that killed three people and wounded 264 -- the worst such incident in the United States since 9/11.
Defense lawyers last week sought for a third time to move the trial, saying that 68 percent of 1,373 potential jurors indicated on questionnaires that they already considered Tsarnaev guilty.
Prosecutors oppose relocating the trial, and say that surveys show more people in New York and Washington DC believe in his guilt.
Tsarnaev has pleaded not guilty to 30 charges.
The marathon attacks plunged the northeastern city of Boston into mourning and revived fears of terrorism in the United States more than a decade after the 9/11 al-Qaida plane strikes.
Source: Agence France Presse
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