Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev trial date has been set for November 3.
The federal judge rejected defense lawyer pleas for more time.
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 20, could face the death penalty if convicted. Prosecutors have said they expect the trial to last 12 weeks. If he’s found guilty, the sentencing phase could take another six weeks.
The accused has pleaded not guilty to 30 charges, of which 17 carry the possibility of capital punishment.
Authorities say Dzhokhar Tsarnaev and his older brother Tamerlan – who was killed in a firefight with police – built and planted two pressure cooker bombs that killed three people and injured at least 260 others at the iconic race last April.
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is also charged with killing an MIT campus police officer before he was found hiding in a dry-docked boat during a massive manhunt that put the city on lockdown.
The federal execution system has been put on hold by a court battle over the combination of drugs used to administer a lethal injection. One of the drugs is no longer available, forcing the Bureau of Prisons to consider alternatives.
In the event of a conviction and a recommendation of a death sentence, the execution by lethal injection would be carried out at a federal prison in Terre Haute, Indiana.
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