BOSTON - Defense lawyers for Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev are asking that his trial be moved out of Boston. Although the attorneys want the trial moved to Washington, D.C., the furthest of four potential venues, they also examined the U.S. District Court in Springfield as a possible option.

Tsarnaev attorney Judy Clarke, in a motion for a venue change, cites the case of Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh, which was moved from Oklahoma to Denver after McVeigh bombed an Oklahoma City federal building and killed 168 people.

"The community impact here is even greater than that present in McVeigh, given that the bombings occurred at the Boston Marathon on the day thousands of Bostonians and others from the region gathered to celebrate the runners, the Red Sox, and Patriots Day, the indelible fear that friends and family could have been killed or injured, the trauma experienced by those in the region for four more days while the police sought the perpetrators, and the hundreds of thousands of Boston area residents who sheltered in place during the climactic final day of the search," Clarke wrote.

The defense lawyers wrote that in May they surveyed residents of the Eastern and Western Districts of Massachusetts, as well as New York and Washington, D.C. to determine whether residents were predisposed to certain opinions in the case.

Their polling found that Boston, the case's current venue, ranked as the "most prejudiced," with Springfield as the second.

In Boston, 58 percent of those surveyed believe Tsarnaev is "definitely guilty," compared to 52 percent in Springfield, 48 percent in Manhattan and 37 percent in Washington, D.C.

Of those familiar with the case in Boston, 37 percent believe Tsarnaev should face the death penalty rather than life without parole if convicted, while 35 percent in Springfield favor death. The number dropped below 30 percent in the out-of-state venues.

Unsurprisingly, Boston area residents were also more closely tied to the Boston Marathon. More than half (52 percent) of those surveyed knew someone who participated in or attended the 2013 marathon, compared to 19 percent in the Springfield area and less than 12 percent in New York and Washington. The numbers were similar but slightly lower when residents were asked if they had ever participated in or attended the Boston Marathon.

Defense lawyers are asking that the trial be moved out of Massachusetts, based on the survey data and an analysis of the extensive media coverage of the bombings. The lawyers asked the judge to note the continuing impact of the bombings including the repeated public release of photos relating to the bombings, the coverage of events honoring victims of the attacks, the outpouring of support for victims around the first anniversary of the bombings, the Boston Strong billboards and t-shirts and the continuing prosecutions of friends of Tsarnaev, which are taking place in federal court in Boston.

Prosecutors now have an opportunity to file a motion responding to the request.

The trial is currently set to begin in November. Tsarnaev faces a 30-count federal indictment related to the bombings, which killed three people and injured more than 260. Tsarnaev and his brother Tamerlan Tsarnaev are also accused of shooting an MIT police officer, an event that sparked a police chase that killed Tamerlan Tsarnaev. Of the federal crimes, 17 carry the potential for the death penalty.