Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's Lawyers Ask for New Trial Outside Boston
In a filing that extensively cites jurors’ social media feeds, lawyers representing Boston Bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev appealed his conviction on Monday, saying it was impossible for their client to receive a fair trial in Eastern Massachusetts.
“Put simply, prejudicial media coverage, events, and environment saturated greater Boston,” the appeal argues, “including the social networks of actual trial jurors, and made it an improper venue for the trial of this case.”
According to Buzzfeed News, the memorandum contained 13 pages of social media posts that were redacted from the court papers before they were released to the public:
In the memo, Tsarnaev’s attorneys state that even if all the jurors did in fact strictly adhere to the court’s orders to refrain from researching and reading about the case on social media, “the breadth and depth of inflammatory images, headlines, and comments that regularly passed through their social media feeds supports the argument that the trial should not have proceeded in Boston.”
NBC News reports that Tsarnaev’s lawyers have also appealed their client’s death sentence, arguing that capital punishment is unconstitutional.
[Image via AP Images]