BOSTON — Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was given a November trial date over the strenuous objections of his attorneys, who said Wednesday that they won't have enough time to mount a defense in a terrorism case that carries a possible death penalty.
The Nov. 3 trial date is nearly a year earlier than the earliest date requested by Tsarnaev's lawyers, but in line with what prosecutors had sought.
"I think it is a realistic and a fair one," U.S. District Judge George O'Toole Jr. said of the schedule he set.
Federal prosecutors announced last month that they will seek the death penalty against Tsarnaev, who is charged in twin bombings that killed three people and wounded more than 260.