The Boston Marathon bomber is seeking a new trial, telling a federal court that "unrelenting" bad publicity made it impossible for him to get a fair trial in Boston.
Lawyers for Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, an ethnic Chechen, argued that because of widespread outrage in Boston after the deadly 2013 attack, jurors in the city couldn't be objective about him.
The jurors on May 15 sentenced Tsarnaev to death by lethal injection.
In their claim of "unrelenting publicity," Tsarnaev's lawyers listed public events held in honor of the victims -- three who were killed and more than 260 who were wounded -- including a new city holiday and several races.
Widespread media coverage featured stories about survivors, including one "powerfully emotional" moment during the 2015 marathon when amputee Rebekah Gregory ran the last 3.5 miles on a prosthetic leg before falling to her knees at the finish line, crying, they said.
Banners posted around the city urged solidarity. The lawyers said that even on social media, jurors were inundated with posts from relatives and friends.