On Thursday, July 31, 2025, NBC Boston reported that a federal appeals court denied a recusal request from attorneys representing Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the convicted Boston Marathon bomber. The appeal sought the removal of U.S. District Court Judge George O’Toole from Tsarnaev’s ongoing case, alleging bias due to the judge’s public comments regarding the trial.
Tsarnaev’s legal team contended that Judge O’Toole’s remarks made during podcasts and public events reflected a partiality that compromised the fairness of the proceedings. However, Judge O’Toole previously dismissed these claims, indicating that the petitioners had “not met the high threshold required” for such a request.
In its ruling, the 1st Circuit Court of Appeals supported O’Toole’s decision, stating that the petitioners did not fulfill the “exacting” standard necessary for mandamus petitions aimed at recusal. The court noted that the comments in question were related to the challenges of organizing complex jury trials and the potential issues posed by social media influence.
Judge O’Toole is currently overseeing the review of Tsarnaev’s death sentence linked to the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing, which resulted in three fatalities and numerous injuries. The legal proceedings began anew in January 2023 when Tsarnaev’s lawyers sought to overturn his death sentence, citing concerns about juror misconduct. In March 2024, the appeals court instructed O’Toole to examine the possibility of jury bias, which could lead to a new trial determining whether Tsarnaev’s sentence should be altered to life imprisonment.
Tsarnaev remains on death row at a supermax prison in Colorado. His original death sentence, issued after his 2015 conviction, was briefly overturned by the First Circuit in 2020, only for the Supreme Court to reinstate it two years later.
Source: NBC Boston
