MOSCOW, April 15 (RIA Novosti), Julia Kotliarenko – Finding an unbiased jury is a top priority for US lawyers representing clients from Eastern countries, a New Jersey-based lawyer representing Dias Kadyrbayev told RIA Novosti.
Kadyrbayev, a Kazakh national, is suspected by US authorities of cooperating with Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the alleged Boston Marathon bomber. He was arrested by US law enforcement days after Tsarnaev was taken into custody.
“It will be important to try to select an unbiased jury that will listen to the facts and evidence with an open mind,” Kadyrbayev’s attorney Robert Stahl said, commenting on the case.
Kadyrbayev’s trial faces numerous difficulties, Stahl said.
"Boston is a very tight local community," he said. “Many potential jurors will have watched the marathon or known someone who was there or injured.”
Elaborating on the cultural differences between US citizens and foreigners, Stahl claimed that the additional challenge is “to explain why students from Kazakhstan would not immediately think to call the police even if they suspected they might recognize the person in the photos at some point.”
Ever since Dzhokhar Tsarnav was arrested, the American public became increasingly sensitized to non-Americans, predominantly those of Muslim descent, Stahl said.
“We must overcome the potential prejudice against Muslims and foreign students … we must constantly be on guard that a jury does not simply think that all people from that area, or all Muslims, are terrorists,” Stahl said.
Three people were killed and over 250 wounded after two bombs went off near the finish line of the Boston Marathon on April 15 last year. The Tsarnaev brothers were quickly identified as suspects in the blasts, following the release of surveillance camera footage by the FBI.
Tamerlan Tsarnaev was killed in a gunfight with police in the days following the bomb attack. His younger brother, Dzhokhar, tried to flee the city, but was wounded and later arrested and is now awaiting trial in federal court, scheduled to begin in November.
