Since U.S. District Judge George A. O’Toole Jr. has prohibited the media from filming or taping the proceedings in Dzhokhar Tsarnaev’s trial, the oral arguments made on Feb. 19 in the 1st Circuit Court of Appeals offer a unique opportunity to hear the court case in action.
You can hear both Tsarnaev’s lawyers and the prosecutors making their cases for or against moving the trial, revealing their approaches, skill levels and strategy. The defense argues that there is too much of a presumption of guilt in Boston for him to get a fair trial. The appellate court turned down an earlier attempt to move the trial by a vote of 2-1 in January.
The appellate judges’ written ruling based on this hearing is forthcoming. Listen in for yourself to decide if Chief Judge Sandra L. Lynch, Judge Jeffrey R. Howard and Judge Juan R. Toruella were persuaded by what they heard.
