Appeals court investigating Boston Marathon bomber’s death sentence

BOSTON, Mass. (WGGB/WSHM) - A federal appeals court ordering the judge overseeing Dzhokar Tsarnaev’s trial to investigate the defense’s claims of juror bias and determine if his death sentence should stand.

The defense pushed for the death sentence to be thrown away while claiming bias by two people who sat on the jury that convicted him for his role in the attack that killed three and injured hundreds near the marathon finish line in 2013.

An appeals court found that the trial judge did not adequately probe Tsarnaev’s allegations and began investigating.

If the judge finds that either juror should have been disqualified, he will vacate Tsarnaev’s sentence and hold a new penalty-phase trial to determine whether he should be sentenced to death.

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