A federal court on Thursday denied a request by attorneys for Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev to remove the judge overseeing the protracted legal battle over his death sentence.
The U.S. First Circuit Court of Appeals rejected the argument made by Tsarnaev’s lawyers that U.S. District Court Judge George O’Toole should be recused from the case because, the lawyers contend, he is not impartial. During an August 2024 hearing, Tsarnaev's attorneys pointed to what they said were comments O’Toole made about the case on podcasts and at public events during the appeals process.
