After nearly two years, the trial of the Boston Marathon bombing suspect is scheduled to begin.
NBC News noted that the selection process for 12 jurors and six alternates took two months, but was completed Tuesday and now opening statements are set to start Wednesday morning.
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev and his older brother Tamerlan, are suspected of being responsible for two pressure cooker bombs that exploded during the Boston Marathon in 2013. The elder sibling was killed in a shootout with police and his younger brother has plead not guilty to 30 counts including using a “weapon of mass destruction resulting in death.”
His defense team will argue that the deceased older brother was the mastermind.
Authorities told ABC News that Tamerlan’s wife, Katherine Russell, is also being investigated to determine whether she knew about the plot. She reportedly accompanied her husband to purchase the pressure cookers months before the bombing.
On April 15, 2013, the pressure cooker bombs exploded near the finish line of the race, killing three people and injuring more than 260 others. After a manhunt in and around Boston, Dzhokhar was arrested. If convicted, he faces the death penalty.
The trial could last through June.