BOSTON (AP) – Lawyers for Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev urged a judge Wednesday to order federal prosecutors to turn over any evidence they have about his brother’s participation in a 2011 triple killing or to consider postponing Tsarnaev’s trial.
Tsarnaev, who has pleaded not guilty in the 2013 bombing, faces the possibility of the death penalty if convicted. Three people were killed and more than 260 injured in the explosions.
Authorities say Tsarnaev, then 19, and his 26-year-old brother, Tamerlan, detonated pressure-cooker bombs near the marathon finish line. Tamerlan Tsarnaev was killed several days later in a shootout with police.
During a status conference Wednesday in federal court, Tsarnaev’s lawyers said prosecutors have not turned over any evidence about Tamerlan Tsarnaev’s supposed role in the triple slaying since last year, when they said in court papers that Tamerlan Tsarnaev’s friend told investigators of the older brother’s participation.
That friend, Ibragim Todashev, was shot and killed at his Florida home while being questioned by the FBI and Massachusetts State Police. Authorities have said an FBI agent shot Todashev after he charged at a state trooper with a pole, but Todahsev’s family has challenged that account.