The circus that is the Marathon bombing trial will get underway today — so far it’s just been the preliminaries — and for maybe the fourth or fifth time the defense attorneys have requested that the trial be moved out of Boston.
They are correct. It should be moved out of Boston. I’m not sure why U.S. District Judge George A. O’Toole Jr. insists on keeping it in Boston, when so many other notorious trials were moved. Like the Unabomber’s trial or that of Timothy McVeigh.
It may be true that another venue wouldn’t necessarily bring in a jury that is less biased than what Tsarnaev can get here in Boston, but why chance it? Why give the defense an avenue of appeal if you’re going to bring this much effort to convicting him? It just makes the judge look stubborn and the court unreasonable, and there doesn’t seem to be any need to have the trial in Boston.