(WGBH) On Thursday, lawyers representing convicted 26-year-old Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev will go before a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals to argue that their client did not receive a fair trial in 2015. They will also ask that the death penalty in the case be rescinded.
Tsarnaev’s legal team will argue that their client received neither a fair nor impartial trial and sentencing. The court is being asked to consider whether Judge George O’Toole acted properly, whether the nondisclosure of social media postings compromised jury selection and whether the death penalty decision was influenced by juror bias.
U.S. prosecutors, on the other hand, argue that Tsarnaev demonstrated callous disregard for the bombings’ victims. In 2015 the defendant was charged with 30 counts, of which 17 were punishable by death.
