Trial for Boston bombing suspect set for November

A federal judge in Boston on Wednesday set a November trial date for Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.

U.S. District Court Judge George A. O’Toole announced at a hearing that the trial will begin Nov. 3, according to multiple reports. 

Tsarnaev’s defense attorneys had asked for the trial to begin in September 2015, at the earliest, The Boston Globe reports.

The trial is expected to last roughly three months. 

{mosads}Late last month, the Justice Department announced Attorney General Eric Holder directed prosecutors in the case to seek the death penalty against Tsarnaev. 

The 20-year-old did not appear at Wednesday’s hearing, reports say. Seventeen of the 30 charges he faces carry the possibility of the death penalty, including using a weapon of mass destruction.

Tsarnaev has pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Authorities say Tsarnaev and his older brother, Tamerlan, placed two pressure-cooker bombs near the marathon’s finish line on April 15 last year. Three people were killed and more than 260 people were wounded in the attack. 

Tamerlan Tsarnaev later died during a shootout with police as they searched the city for the brothers.

O’Toole said the next hearing in the case will be June 18, when prosecutors and the defense teams will meet to discuss the possibility of a change of venue.