Boston Marathon Bombing Trial Delayed By Jury Selection

BOSTON, Jan 22 (Reuters) - Opening statements in the trial of Boston bomb suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev have been postponed because jury selection is taking longer than expected, meaning lawyers will not begin presenting cases next Monday as planned, the court said on Thursday.

"It is not possible yet to specifically target a new start date," a spokeswoman for the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts said in a release.

Tsarnaev is accused of setting off twin pressure-cooker bombs at the finish line of the Boston Marathon in 2013, killing three people and injuring more than 260 in the worst such incident on U.S. soil since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. He faces execution if convicted.

The challenge of selecting 12 jurors and six alternates in the high-profile trial became clear last week, as candidates included a man whose roommates had urged him to vote for execution and a theologian worried such a vote would end his career.

The jury candidates have already made it through a first round of screening that began in early January, which saw 1,350 potential jurors fill out questionnaires about their ties to the case and views on the death penalty.

Defense attorneys have argued that finding an impartial jury in the city where the attack took place will be impossible, but its requests for a change of venue and a delay to the trial have been repeatedly denied.

Prosecutors say Tsarnnaev, 21, and his older brother Tamerlan worked together on the bombing, and that the ethnic Chechens were influenced by radical Islam. Tamerlan was killed in a shootout with police days after the bombing.

A new proposed date for the start of opening statements in the case is expected to be released next week, the court said. (Reporting by Richard Valdmanis; Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe)

Read More http://ift.tt/1t25ewW