Supreme Court to Consider Boston Marathon Bomber's Death Sentence

WASHINGTON—The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to consider the Justice Department’s bid to reinstate a death sentence for convicted Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.

The court said it would review an appeals court ruling from July that said the death sentence couldn’t stand because a trial judge hadn’t properly screened jurors about their exposure to pretrial publicity about the case.

The Justice Department filed its high-court appeal in the final months of the Trump administration, calling the case “one of the most important terrorism prosecutions in our nation’s history” and urging the court to put it “back on track toward its just conclusion.”

The justices will hear the case during their next term, which begins in October.

Tsarnaev and his older brother Tamerlan planted pressure-cooker bombs at the marathon finish line in April 2013, killing three people and injuring more than 260, including 17 who lost limbs. They also shot and killed a campus police officer in Cambridge while trying to flee the region days later. Tamerlan was killed during a confrontation with police.