Boston Marathon Bomber Appeals Death Sentence

The surviving sibling of the two young men who committed the Boston Marathon bombing in 2013 is appealing his death sentence, alleging that he did not get a fair trial.

According to CNN , Attorney Daniel Habib—one of the lawyers representing 26-year-old Dzhokhar Tsarnaev—said that at trial, the jury was composed of individuals directly affected by the attack that killed three people and wounded hundreds of others, including 16 who ultimately lost limbs.

He said that because of the fact that the city of Boston was put on lockdown for several days while authorities searched for the bombers—compounding the trauma of the actual event—the trial should have been held elsewhere.

"This case should not have been tried in Boston," Habib said.

Assistant U.S. Attorney William Glaser countered that the pretrial publicity didn't taint the jury, leading to an exchange with the judges over the impact of statements made by elected officials and public figures following the bombing.

The manhunt ended four days after the bombing when police found a wounded Tsarnaev hiding in a tarp-covered boat in the backyard of a home in Watertown.

Tsarnaev was convicted and sentenced to death in 2015.