Boston Bombing Suspect Appeals Denial of Request to Move Trial

Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev’s lawyers added yet another challenge to a flurry of last-minute bids to delay or move his federal terrorism trial, set to start Jan. 5 in Boston federal court.

After losing last-ditch efforts to move the trial to New York or Washington, or postpone it to prepare for possible testimony by a friend who pleaded guilty in a related gun case, Tsarnaev Dec. 31 asked the U.S. Court of Appeals to stay the case while he challenges the change-of-venue denial.

Tsarnaev, 21, has argued the trial should be moved because jurors in Massachusetts will be biased against him, given the severity of the April 2013 attack, which killed three and injured scores of others.

The U.S. government opposed the request for a delay by the Boston federal appeals court in a filing today.