A trial date for Boston Marathon bomb suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev has been set for Nov. 3 despite requests from defense attorneys for a later date.
US District Court Judge George A. O’Toole slated the date, saying the government’s request for a fall trial was more reasonable than the defense’s requests, the Boston Globe reports.
A joint status report was filed Monday in US District Court in Boston by Federal prosecutors and defense attorneys. In the report, defense attorneys asked for a trial date in September 2015, at the earliest.
Prosecutors believe the trial will span about 12 weeks with a sentencing hearing lasting an additional six weeks, according to the report. The report does not show when federal prosecutors would like to go to trial.
Scores of evidence, including nearly 2,000 items that are reportedly still being analyzed by the FBI and items kept at other locations, have yet to bet reviewed by the defense, the report noted.
A hearing in the case was also scheduled for June 18 where both sides are expected to discuss if the defense wants a change of venue, the Globe reports.
Tsarnaev, 20, and his brother Tamerlan, 26, are accused in the April 15 bombings. More than 260 people were injured and Lingzi Lu, 23, Krystle Campbell, 29, and Martin Richard, 8, were killed.
The eldest brother died in a shootout with police in Watertown, fours days after the bombings. Tsarnaev is also accused of killing MIT police officer, Sean Collier, as both brothers tried to escape the area.
Tsarnaev has been held at a federal prison at the former Fort Devens and faces charges that could bring him the death penalty.
