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 That jury will determine if Tsarnaev, 21, is guilty of killing
three people and injuring 264 with a pair of homemade bombs at the
race's crowded finish line on April 15, 2013, and with fatally
shooting a police officer three days later.
Tsarnaev could be sentenced to death if he is convicted, a fact that
made jury selection in the federal trial challenging in
Massachusetts, where state laws do not allow for capital punishment
and the practice is unpopular.
U.S. District Judge George O'Toole in early January summoned more
than 1,350 potential jurors to fill out questionnaires on their ties
to the attack and their views on the death penalty. To be eligible
to serve, candidates needed not to have formed a set opinion of
Tsarnaev's guilt and to be willing to consider voting for execution
if he was found guilty.
Tsarnaev's lawyers last week asserted that the court had violated
its own procedures about random selection, reordering jurors as they
arrived in a way that reduced the number of black candidates
questioned.
Prosecutors and defense lawyers on Tuesday will work through the
approximately 70 provisionally qualified candidates to select 18
jurors and alternates to hear a case that could run into June.
Given the high likelihood of an appeal if Tsarnaev is convicted,
O'Toole will likely be looking to avoid missteps that could give
defense attorneys grounds to challenge the fairness of jury
selection, said Robert Bloom, a professor at Boston College Law
School.
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"If I were the judge, I'd have to be a little bit nervous about the
possible appellate route the defense might take," Bloom said. "The
chance of an appeal being successful is not that great but you can
expect that the appeal will be made."
Tsarnaev's attorneys on Monday offered a possible glimpse into their
strategy when they argued that they need to be able to discuss the
defendant's relationship with his older brother, Tamerlan, early in
the trial.
They described 26-year-old Tamerlan, who died following a gun battle
with police three days after the bombing, as the driving force
behind the attack, saying that his younger brother participated out
of submissiveness.
(Reporting by Scott Malone; Editing by Eric Beech)
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