The trial of Boston marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev will begin on Nov. 3, the U.S. Attorney's Office in Massachusetts has said.
U.S. District Judge George O'Toole set the trial date at a hearing in Boston on Wednesday after rejecting the defense team's appeal to postpone it until September 2015 or later. Tsarnaev's lawyers requested time to review massive amounts of evidence, including 2,000 items that are still being analyzed by FBI forensics.
Judy Clarke, Tsarnaev's lead attorney, said "meeting the [November] trial date will be impossible."
"That's the calendar," the judge said, commenting on his decision. "I think it is a realistic one and a fair one."
Prosecutors want the death penalty for 20-year-old Tsarnaev who is suspected along with his late brother Tamerlan of setting off homemade pressure cooker bombs at the Boston Marathon finish line, killing three and injuring more than 200, in April last year.
Dzhokhar, who was arrested in a special operation, has pleaded not guilty to all charges. His brother was killed in a police shootout in the days following the bomb attack.
