Court decision in Puerto Rico could be big for Dzhokhar Tsarnaev appeal
A federal appeals court decision that ordered a new trial in a highly publicized case in Puerto Rico could have big ramifications for convicted Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, The Boston Globe reports.
The relevant appeal centers around the high-profile case of Pablo Casellas-Toro, a Puerto Rico man who was found guilty in January 2014 of murdering his wife.
Eight days after he was convicted, Casellas-Toro was indicted on three federal charges of making false statements to the FBI. In April 2014, a federal jury found him guilty of all three of those false statements.
However, the judge reversed two of those convictions, saying that the government did not prove them beyond a reasonable doubt.
Attorneys for Casellas-Toro, led by Boston attorney Martin Weinberg, appealed the one remaining federal conviction, saying that the trial took place so soon after his high-profile murder conviction that the government could not find an impartial jury.
Appeals court judges agreed. On Monday, a federal appeals court ordered a retrial for the federal case, saying that the local jury pool was prejudiced by intensive media attention on the case and that the court “abused its discretion.’’ [PDF].
That decision could be relevant in the appeal of Tsarnaev, who was found guilty of all 30 charges and sentenced to death for the Boston Marathon bombing and its aftermath in April 2013.
Tsarnaev’s attorneys have repeatedly argued that the high-profile nature of the attacks and its personal impact on Boston citizens made finding a local impartial jury impossible. Their requests for a change of venue have been denied several times.
Though Tsarnaev’s case is different, Weinberg told the Globe that the Casellas-Toro case “sets the architecture’’ for other appeals.
You can read the full story at The Boston Globe.
Gallery: The Tsarnaev trial in courtroom sketches:
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