Boston bombing trial judge begins difficult task of sifting through first of 1,200 jury candidates

BOSTON — People who lost loved ones or were injured in the 2013 Boston Marathon bombings are clamouring for justice as jury selection gets under way in one of the U.S.’s most closely watched federal death penalty cases in two decades.

Seating jurors in the case against Dzhokhar Tsarnaev began Monday under tight security at the federal courthouse in Boston and could take several weeks.

Mr. Tsarnaev, flanked by his lawyers, sat at a table in the front of the jury assembly room. Wearing a dark sweater and khaki pants, he looked down much of the time, but occasionally glanced at potential jurors and looked at the judge. He also picked at his shaggy beard.

When U.S. District Court Judge George O’Toole Jr. introduced him and asked him to stand, he acknowledged the group with a slight nod.

Over the next three days, about 1,200 people will be called to be considered as potential jurors. Twelve jurors and six alternates are to be selected.

The judge gave the first 200 people in the pool initial instructions Monday, explaining the trial will begin on Jan. 26 and will last three to four months.

Judge O’Toole briefly outlined the 30 charges against Mr. Tsarnaev, which include using a weapon of mass destruction. He is also accused of killing an Massachusetts Institute of Technology police officer as he and his brother Tamerlan tried to flee several days after the bombings (Tamerlan died in a shootout with police).

The judge also explained the trial is unlike most other federal trials. In this case, the jury will be asked to decide both whether Mr. Tsarnaev is guilty and what his punishment will be if he is convicted: life in prison or death.

The courthouse was under tight security Monday, with dozens of police officers inside and outside the building. One bombing victim, Karen Brassard, was outside the jury room waiting to observe jury selection. There were no Tsarnaev supporters outside the courthouse as there have been during pretrial hearings.

Mr. Tsarnaev is accused of planning and carrying out the twin bombings that killed three people and injured more than 260 near the finish line of the race on April 15, 2013.

Survivors and first responders are among those expected to testify.

The judge acknowledged serving as a juror can be “at the very least, inconvenient,” but he said jurors will not automatically be excused if they have a hardship such as a demanding work schedule or if they have read extensively about the case.

The prospective jurors group began filling out lengthy questionnaires that will be used to weed out people with potential conflicts. Eventually, lawyers for the government and Mr. Tsarnaev, along with the judge, will question potential jurors individually, then choose the jury.

Heather Abbott, of Newport, R.I., who lost her left leg below the knee in the attacks, said her biggest question may be an unanswerable one: “Why?”

“I don’t know whether I’ll ever get any answer to that question, but I guess I want to understand what the thought process was,” said the woman, who plans to attend some of the proceedings. “Why he would want to do this to people … it’s really hard to understand.”

The trial is perhaps the most scrutinized case of its kind since Timothy McVeigh was convicted and executed for the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing.

Mr. Tsarnaev’s lawyers tried for months to get the trial moved, arguing the Boston jury pool was tainted because of the number of locals with connections to the race. They drew parallels to the McVeigh case, which was moved to Denver for similar reasons. But Judge O’Toole refused.

Jury selection is expected to be a lengthy process because of extensive media coverage and the thousands of runners, spectators and others in the area affected by the bombings. The process also could be slowed if potential jurors express objections to the death penalty.

The Associated Press

David L Ryan/Boston GlobeThe scene after the second explosion at the Boston Marathon.