Dzhokhar Tsarnaev’s defense lawyers have a duty to try even the most dubious strategies to save the accused Boston Marathon bomber. Their most recent request — that the judge remove a group of protesters who have gathered outside the courthouse in South Boston — reflects that kitchen-sink mentality. The lawyers can ask, but the judge should decline their request and allow the demonstrators to remain during the trial.

After a national trauma like the Marathon bombing, it was almost inevitable that conspiracy theories would arise, and indeed they have. The protesters outside the courthouse come from a fringe of conspiracists who believe that Tsarnaev was framed, that the bombings themselves were perpetuated by the government, or even that the bombing didn’t happen in the first place.

For residents who lived through that traumatic week, and families of the victims, accusations that it was all made up are understandably enraging. Still, most residents recognize conspiracy theorists for what they are: a sad and delusional group, whose beliefs reflect their own pathologies more than anything else.