Appeals court orders judge to probe claims of juror bias in Boston Marathon bomber’s case

By ALANNA DURKIN RICHER
Associated Press

BOSTON (AP) — A federal appeals court has ordered Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev’s case to be returned to a lower court to probe claims of juror bias. The order from the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals keeps intact Tsarnaev’s death sentence for now. But the appeals court said the trial court judge’s investigation into plausible claims of juror bias “fell short of what was constitutionally required.” The Boston-based appeals court issued its ruling more than two years after the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated the sentence imposed on 30-year-old Tsarnaev for his role in the bombing.