G. Jeffrey MacDonald and Gary Strauss

USA TODAY

20-year-old faces death sentence if convicted at November trial

BOSTON — Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev will stand trial beginning Nov. 3.

U.S. District Judge George O'Toole set the trial date at a Wednesday hearing. The trial is expected to last about three months. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty against Tsarnaev, who faces more than 30 federal charges in the April 15 twin bombings that killed three people and wounded more than 260.

Tsarnaev, who faces the death penalty, has pleaded not guilty.

Tsarnaev, 20, and his 26-year-old brother, Tamerlan, allegedly planted two pressure cooker bombs at the finish line of the marathon, where thousands of runners and bystanders had massed.

A few hours after the FBI released their photos, the brothers allegedly shot Sean Collier, a campus police officer with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Authorities say the pair then hijacked an SUV, forcing a hostage to withdraw $800 from an ATM machine and were planning to travel to New York City. Authorities were able to track the SUV through the driver's cell phone.

Tamerlan died in an April 18 shootout with police. Dzhokhar, wounded in the shootout, was captured a few hours later as he hid in a boat parked in the backyard of a Watertown, Mass., home.

Tsarnaev attorney Judith Clarke had sought a trial delay, saying prosecutors have not provided access to evidence.

A Nov. 3 trial date "will be impossible for us to meet," said Clarke. The attorney said there was no way her team could review evidence and line up expert witnesses in such a short time frame. In a filing earlier this week, the defense requested a trial date no sooner than September 2015.

Clarke's team has not been able to review more than 2,000 items that could be potentially used as evidence, which are reportedly undergoing FBI analysis. The items "are in the lab, but until they tell us when and where we can view them, we cannot complete automatic discovery," said Miriam Conrad, a defense attorney for Tsarnaev.

O'Toole, however, was unmoved.

"That's the calendar," he said. "I think it is a realistic one and a fair one."

Wednesday's hearing attracted a nearly full courtroom, including bombing victims and MIT Police Chief John DiFava, Collier's boss.

Some observers expect the trial date and venue to be moved.

David Frank, editor of legal affairs newspaper Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly, said the Nov. 3 trial date "isn't realistic" and could become an issue on appeal if Tnarnaev is convicted.

"It's a serious issue," Frank said. "We're talking about a defendant's fundamental right to a fair trial."

A March 12 hearing is scheduled, at which O'Toole is expected rule on further motions in the gathering and review of potential evidence. A decision on the venue for the trial is expected at a June 18 status conference.

Strauss (@gbstrauss) reported from McLean, Va.