The appeals court has mandated that Judge O’Toole continue overseeing the case of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, who is currently on death row for his role in the Boston Marathon bombing in 2013.
Tsarnaev, now 32, has acknowledged detonating bombs at the marathon’s finish line alongside his brother, resulting in three deaths and injuries to over 260 individuals.
He was sentenced to death but is actively appealing the verdict, which has already led to several of his legal challenges being heard by the U.S. Supreme Court.
In March 2024, the appeals court directed O’Toole to examine defense claims regarding potential bias among two jurors, raising the possibility of a new trial concerning Tsarnaev’s sentencing.
According to the appeals court, if O’Toole determines that the jurors in question should have been excused from the jury panel, Tsarnaev may be entitled to a new sentencing trial that would reconsider whether he should receive life in prison or face the death penalty.
The appeals court criticized O’Toole for failing to thoroughly explore the defense’s request to remove the two jurors during the jury selection process, specifically allegations that they had not been truthful about their social media postings related to the case.
During jury selection, one juror claimed she hadn’t commented on the case, yet the defense discovered that she had tweeted or retweeted comments about the bombings 22 times, including a post labeling Tsarnaev a “piece of garbage.”
Another juror falsely stated that none of his Facebook friends had discussed the trial, despite one friend suggesting he should “play the part” to secure a spot on the jury and that Tsarnaev should be sent “to jail where he will be taken care of.”
O’Toole now faces the responsibility of investigating this potential juror bias and must conduct a new sentencing trial if he concludes that either juror should have been excluded from the panel.
Earlier this year, O’Toole dismissed a defense request seeking his recusal from the case, which prompted the recent appeal.
Details surrounding the inquiry into the jurors remain secretive, as O’Toole had previously ordered that all relevant filings be submitted under seal to protect the jurors’ privacy and maintain the integrity of the proceedings.
However, he eventually released some of this information.
During his original trial in federal court in Boston, Tsarnaev admitted to placing a bomb in a backpack near the Forum restaurant on Boylston Street, which killed Martin Richard and Lingzi Lu, a 23-year-old Boston University graduate student from China.
He was also accountable for the death of MIT police Officer Sean Collier days after the bombing as he and his brother attempted to evade capture.
Evidence revealed that his older brother, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, placed a bomb a short distance away, leading to the death of 29-year-old Krystle Campbell.
Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26, was later killed during a confrontation with police in Watertown.
Boston police Officer Dennis Simmonds, injured during a shootout with Tamerlan, succumbed to his injuries a year later.
The jury at Tsarnaev’s trial ultimately recommended the death penalty, rejecting defense arguments that he was heavily influenced by his brother.
In 2020, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit overturned Tsarnaev’s death sentence, citing O’Toole’s failure to adequately question jurors about media exposure and improper exclusion of defense evidence.
However, the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated his death sentence two years later, affirming that Tsarnaev had received a fair trial.
image source from：bostonglobe
