The legal representatives of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the primary suspect of the Boston Marathon bombings, filed a request for the court to delay the trial until September 2015, said a Wall Street Journal report. Should the court approve the request, the trial will take place around two and a half years after the bombing that killed three people and wounded more than 260 bystanders and event runners.
The request was reportedly discussed between the defense and prosecutors in a joint status report filed with the Massachusetts federal court on Monday. The lawyers for the 20 year-old claimed that they needed ample time to go over physical evidence, which numbered in the thousands.
Part of the report read, "During a review of a portion of the physical evidence during the week of January 13, 2014, the defense asked the government to copy various items that the government had made available for inspection and review. The government agreed to provide copies of the requested items, but the defense has not yet received the copies. The defense has not yet had an opportunity to review numerous additional items of physical evidence, including nearly 2,000 items that reportedly are still being analyzed by the FBI and items kept at additional locations."
WSJ said that US prosecutors are looking for a death penalty verdict for Tsarnaev. Tsarnaev entered a not guilty plea over charges related to the attacks at the Boston Marathon event, which include a charge of using a weapon of mass destruction.
A spokeswoman for U.S.Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz reportedly said that the US government previously suggested that the trial be held in the fall this year, and anticipated that the trial could last 12 weeks.
Former first assistant US attorney Gerard T. Leone Jr said the trial delay made sense because of the complex nature of the case. "Anyone who's been involved in such a case knows that it's extremely labor intensive," he added.
