Boston Bombing Trial, Opening Monday, Could Last Months
The Boston Marathon bombing trial gets underway Monday as potential jurors begin arriving at federal court, where a panel of 12 will ultimately decide whether 21-year-old suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is executed.
More than 1,000 residents of eastern Massachusetts, a region still scarred by the deadly attacks of April 2013, will fill out jury selection questionnaires. A litany of queries boils down to two essentials: Can you be fair? Can you impose the death penalty if conditions are met?
Seating a qualified jury will be difficult, court watchers say, and could take weeks. It’s as important as anything that might happen in the courtroom after jurors take their seats.
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