A federal appeals court on Thursday ordered the Boston Marathon bombing case sent back to a lower court to examine juror bias.
The Boston-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit found that the trial judge did not properly investigate juror claims from Dzhokhar Tsarnaev’s defense team.
The defense told the court that Tsarnaev was not allowed to participate, alleging bias by the two jurors who convicted him of a bombing near the marathon finish line in 2013 that killed three people and injured hundreds. requested that his death sentence be overturned.
More than a year ago, oral arguments before the three-judge First Circuit panel focused on two jurors who Mr. Tsarnaev’s lawyers claimed had been rigged during the lengthy jury selection process. I guessed it.
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File: Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, who was convicted and sentenced to death for carrying out the Boston Marathon bombings that killed three people and injured more than 260 on April 15, 2013, has been arrested by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. It is shown in this photo released on May 19th. 2013. (FBI via AP)
Tsarnaev’s lawyers said one of the jurors retweeted a post calling Tsarnaev “trash”, even though he said he had not commented on the case online.
Another juror said none of his Facebook friends would comment on the trial, but one said he wanted to join the jury and “play his part” to send Mr. Tsarnaev to “a prison where he will be taken care of.” Despite my recommendation, he said. He said.
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Mr. Tsarnaev’s lawyers said they raised these concerns during jury selection, but the judge chose not to investigate further.
Justice Department attorney William Glaser acknowledged during oral arguments in the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that the jurors made inaccurate statements, but said they lied about other disclosures. He said that this suggests more of a misunderstanding.
If the appeals court finds that either juror should have been disqualified, the trial judge will hold a new penalty phase trial to determine whether Mr. Tsarnaev should be sentenced to death. He said it should be held.
Regardless of the outcome of the jury bias investigation, the appeals court’s three-judge panel stressed that the only question is whether Tsarnaev’s death sentence should stand.
”[R]Regardless of the outcome, he will spend the rest of his life in prison,” the three appeals court judges said.
The case has already been argued once before the US Supreme Court. The high court reinstated the death sentence imposed on 30-year-old Tsarnaev in 2022 after the First Circuit reversed the sentence in 2020.
FILE: Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, arrested in connection with the Boston Marathon bombings, is pictured in this handout photo submitted into evidence by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Boston, Massachusetts, on March 23, 2015. (Reuters/Boston U.S. Attorney’s Office/Handout via Reuters)
Tsarnaev was convicted in the death of Lindsay Lu, 23, a Boston University graduate student from China. Krystle Campbell, 29-year-old restaurant manager from Medford, Massachusetts. and Martin Richard, 8, of Boston.
Defense lawyers argued that Tsarnaev was under the influence of his older brother, Tamerlan, who was killed in a shootout with police days after the April 15, 2013, bombing.
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Tsarnaev was convicted of all 30 charges against him, including conspiracy and use of a weapon of mass destruction, and the murder of Massachusetts Institute of Technology police officer Sean Collier during the Tsarnaev brothers’ escape attempt.
FOX News Digital has reached out to Tsarnaev’s attorney and the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Massachusetts for comment.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
