BOSTON (WBZ NewsRadio) — Lawyers for convicted Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev have filed an appeal of his death sentence.
In a new 200-page court filing, attorneys write that Tsarnaev did not receive a fair trial because he was tried in a "community still suffering from his crimes."
Tsarnaev's lawyers say that most of the jury pool was familiar with the details of the case due to extensive media coverage in the aftermath of the April 15, 2013 attack.
Read the full appeal here (.pdf)
"Damning coverage of the bombings flooded newspapers, radio stations, and television programs," Tsarnaev's lawyers say. "Accounts of the victims’ terrible losses, the lockdown, and Tsarnaev’s arrest and confessions saturated the venirepersons’ Facebook and Twitter feeds. So did the opinions of civic leaders, survivors, and ordinary people that Tsarnaev should die".
"Two-thirds of the venire believed that Tsarnaev was guilty before hearing from a single witness," his attorneys add.
As news broke of the appeal, Boston Mayor Marty Walsh told WBZ NewsRadio his heart went out to the victims of the marathon bombing.
"I guess that's this person's right to appeal this ruling, but I'm sure if they take up the appeal—I have full faith and confidence in our judicial system," Walsh said.
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