Lawyers want 2,000 potential jurors called for Boston bombing trial

BOSTON (Reuters) - U.S. prosecutors and attorneys for the accused Boston Marathon bomber asked a judge on Friday to call 2,000 potential jurors to be screened for his trial. Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 20, could face the death penalty if he is convicted on charges tied to the largest mass-casualty attack on U.S. soil since Sept. 11, 2001. Tsarnaev is awaiting trial on charges of killing three people and injuring more than 260 with twin homemade pressure-cooker bombs on April 15, 2013, as well as shooting dead a university police officer three days later. Attorneys for both sides said in a filing in U.S. District Court in Boston that they expected to need about a week to comb through the pool to select a panel of 12 jurors and six alternates to hear the case. Jury selection is scheduled to begin on Nov. 3, though Tsarnaev's attorneys have asked a judge to consider delaying the start of the trial, saying they need more time to comb through the mounds of evidence collected by federal investigators and to prepare for the two phases of the trial, which will first consider if Tsarnaev is guilty, and if he is convicted, whether he is to be executed. The defense has also asked Judge George O'Toole to consider moving the trial out of Massachusetts, contending that it will be impossible to find an impartial jury in a state where so many people participate in the marathon, either as athletes or spectators. Prosecutors contend that Tsarnaev and his older brother, Tamerlan, carried out the deadly attack. Tamerlan Tsarnaev was killed in a gun battle with police three days after the bombing, as the pair were preparing to flee Boston. (Reporting by Scott Malone; Editing by Mohammad Zargham)