Boston Marathon bomber’s death sentence thrown out by court

A federal appeals court Friday overturned the death sentence of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, who was convicted of the 2013 Boston Marathon bombings, and ordered a new penalty-phase trial.

The ruling, from the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, concluded that the presiding judge in the 2015 trial, George O’Toole, “did not meet the standard” of fairness, because he did not sufficiently scrutinize jurors’ exposure to the bombing.

Tsarnaev’s defense had argued that it was impossible to select an impartial jury in Boston, but O’Toole had denied three motions for a change of venue.