With the US Appeals court ruling 2 to 1 over the weekend against a request for a change of venue, the trial of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is scheduled to begin this Wednesday.
Barring an unforeseen development, by the end of the day Tuesday a jury will be in place for the Boston Marathon bombing trial.
Final jury selection begins at 9 am Tuesday with the defense and prosecution using 23 peremptory challenges each to whittle 75 provisionally qualified jurors down to 12 and 6 alternates, with a few left over.
Opening statements in the trial will be heard on Wednesday. All eligible jurors will have had to show that they are willing to impose the death penalty if Tsarnaev is found guilty.
This raises a question: Will the defendant plead guilty rather than go through what is expected to be a four-month trial that will include video footage and witnesses who will put the defendant at the scene of the bombing?
Legal experts believe that a plea deal would prove problematic and irreversible if the defense chooses to appeal.
