Lawyers from Ortiz’s office maintained during a hearing in federal court on Monday that they plan to make a recommendation by October 31, so that Holder will have enough time to make a decision. They originally set a deadline to hear from the defense team by August.

While US Attorney General Eric Holder will ultimately decide whether to enforce the death penalty, he will base that decision in large part on input from US Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz of Massachusetts. Tsarnaev’s team can also submit arguments under general court guidelines.

Federal prosecutors from Massachusetts said they will push forward with an October 31 deadline to recommend whether suspected Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev should face the death penalty, in spite of his defense team’s request for more time to oppose the capital punishment.


But members of the defense team said they need more time and requested more evidence from prosecutors to help formulate their position against the death penalty.

The defense team asked US District Court Judge George A. O’Toole Jr. to extend the deadline, but the judge gave no indication of whether he would, or whether he has the authority. He told lawyers from both sides to continue to share evidence in the case, and the defense team can file any requests for more information with the court. O’Toole said he would decide on each request for information once it is filed. A status conference is scheduled for Nov. 12.

The defense team also indicated that it will file documents to show that the judge does indeed have the legal authority to extend the deadline so that they can have more time to present their arguments.

“We’re really talking about a number of things here, including fairness,” said one of Tsanaev’s lawyers, Judy Clarke.

Assistant US Attorney William D. Weinreb argued, however, that the government had no obligation under its authority to enforce the death penalty to wait on input from the defense team. Six months after the bombings, he said the defense team has already had ample time to submit arguments.


Tsarnaev, now 20, has been charged in a 30-count indictment with multiple terrorism charges for the April 15 Boston Marathon bombing that killed 3 people and injured more than 260. His older brother, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, died in a gunfight with police in a manhunt days later.

Under Department of Justice guidelines, Holder will recommend whether to seek the death penalty, but will first seek input from Ortiz and from the defense team. Ortiz, who will also welcome input from the defense team before making her own recommendation, has said she will base her decision on conversations with her senior staff. Weinreb said that the defense team has until Oct. 24 to present any recommendation to Ortiz.

Defense lawyers told O’Toole Monday that they are waiting for more information from the prosecution team, such as grand jury testimony, that will help them formulate their recommendation against the death penalty.

While acknowleding prosecutors may not be bound by laws to immediately turn over the information, Clarke argued that the “spirit” of the laws should persuade them to.

“It is a guideline aimed at fairness,” she said.

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Milton J. Valencia can be reached at mvalencia@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @miltonvalencia.