FOLLOW US

A Boston federal judge said he will consider the legal arguments on whether to step down from hearing convicted Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's case for a new sentencing trial over allegations his jurors were biased.

The decision came during a hearing, as U.S. District Judge George O'Toole addressed concerns raised by Tsarnaev's defense team. The lawyers argued that statements the judge has made since a trial in 2015 could call into question his objectivity.

We have already... spoken to, you know, comments made in a podcast and at some private events," said Deirdre D. von Dornum of the Federal Defender's office who represents Tsarnaev. She asked O'Toole to voluntarily release any additional statements that could show prejudice. The defense must file its brief by Sept. 3, and the government's is due two weeks later.

Tsarnaev Appeal Prompts Concerns About Potential Juror Bias

Tsarnaev, who was convicted in 2015 and sentenced to death, has sought to reverse his sentence due partly on the basis of undisclosed social media posts by two jurors. Tsarnaev was "a piece of garbage," said a juror who'd soon be the foreperson. A second juror had discussed signing up for the jury online as well. Tsarnaev's legal team argues that both jurors should have been disqualified and he deserves a new penalty phase trial.

They were reassigned to Judge OToole this year by the 1st Circuit after that court directed him to probe whether Why didnt we know about these Facebook posts during jury selection? The defense has also suggested the case could be assigned to another judge, arguing this is required under local rules regarding reassignment of cases when they are sent back after appeal.

Boston Marathon Bombing Case: Government's Opposition

The recusal motion should also be denied as meritless, federal prosecutor Nadine Pellegrini argued because that injunction does not require a new judge. The government maintains that the local rule never precluded Tsarnaev's existing lawyers from continuing as defense attorneys, since it doesn't specify who can be eliminated and in fact contains a provision allowing key judges to stay on cases where judicial economy could trump other factors.

That legal wrangling over the role of Judge O'Toole in the case has continued as Tsarnaev fights for a new trial phase based on that juror bias issue.

Effects on Victims and Survivors

The slow appeals process has taken a toll on survivors of the 2013 Boston Marathon bombings, which killed three people and wounded more than 200 others. Survivor Mikey Borgard attended the hearing and said he was disgusted by how long death penalty appeals take, dragging out victims' trauma.

Attorneys from the Federal Defenders of New York, Fick & Marx LLP and Hecker Fink represented Tsarnaev. Its other consists of federal prosecutors from U.D. Attorney's Office, District of Massachusetts and DOJ lawyers.