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Dzhokhar Tsarnaev Seeks Trial Delay

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's lawyers are asking for a trial delay, primarily due to last minute document dumps by the Government, as well as new expert witness disclosures. The Government opposes the delay. I've uploaded the defense motion here and the Government's motion here. (Addresses and phone numbers of defense counsel redacted.) From the Defense motion:

The size of the witness list:

On December 15, the government provided a witness list (comprised of 590 “law enforcement personnel” and 142 “civilian witnesses”) and an exhibit list (naming 1,238 exhibits and an additional 413 “files contained on digital exhibits”).

On the recent document dumps: [More...]

Also on December 15, the government produced 5 disks and two hard drives (collectively, 166.87 gigabytes) containing witness-related information and other discovery. The government did not include copies (or photographs) of actual listed exhibits, the materials were not Batesnumbered, and no index was provided. ...On December 17, the government produced a single disk (2.41 gigabytes) containing what it described as “392 records” comprised of 2,623 individually Bates-stamped pages and other items, including more than 33 hours of audio recordings. No index was provided.

The Government, in its reply, makes it fairly clear that Jahar's friend Steven Silva, who recently pleaded guilty to possession of heroin and an unlawful weapon, and whose plea agreement is sealed, will be a witness against Jahar. It is believed that a weapon in Silva's possession ended up with the Tsarnaevs. There are reports that this was the weapon used to shoot the MA police officer while the Tsarnaevs were "on the run." You can read more about him in "Silva, Silva and Tsarnaev: A Confusing Story."

To give you an idea of just how much material is filed under seal, here's just the