Women Criminal Defense Attorneys: Judy Clarke and Miriam Conrad Represent Defendant in Boston Marathon Bombing Trial

The trial has officially begun in the Boston Marathon Bombing case and two of the lead lawyers on the defense team are none other than the renowned death penalty lawyer Judy Clarke and Miriam Conrad, the chief federal defender for Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Rhode Island.

The trial is still in the jury selection phase, which will undoubtedly serve to be challenging since the Judge denied the motion to change venue out of Boston. Not a big surprise to those of us that practice regularly in federal court... but without question an unfortunate ruling for the defense. The case is anecdotally known as the Boston bombing case, how can jurors in Boston be unbiased to the correlation between the crime and the place they call home?

In fact, reportedly dozens of jurors have been excused for cause already but the pool of prospective jurors is well over a thousand people. The media has reported that there was an effort to strike a plea deal, which would have resulted in a life sentence for Tsarnaev, but ultimately the Government would not agree to waive death. The trial is expected to last for months.

We had previously posted about the case when Judy Clarke was initially brought on to be part of the team, but now the tough part begins. It is clear from the experience sitting at defense counsel table that Tsarneav has able attorneys and some of the best women criminal defense lawyers in the country by his side. I certainly will continue to follow this trial.