Two High-Profile MA Trials Set To Begin Next Week

Two of the most anticipated trials in recent years will begin this coming week. Monday, Jan. 5th, marks the beginning of jury selection in the Boston Marathon Bombing trial while the murder trial involving ex-Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez will begin to select jurors on Friday, Jan. 9th. Details from the Associated Press below.

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev

Barring a last-minute reversal from a federal appeals court, jury selection gets underway Monday in the trial of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the surviving suspect in the April 2013 Boston Marathon bombings.

A judge ruled the trial must be held in Boston without delay; Tsarnaev's lawyers have appealed, insisting he cannot receive a fair trial in a city where so many were affected by the attacks.

Tsarnaev, 21, faces the possibility of the death penalty if convicted in the bombings, which killed three people and wounded more than 260 others. Seating the jury is expected to take several weeks.

Aaron Hernandez

Jury selection also starts next week in another high-profile case: the murder trial of former New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez.

Prospective jurors will be summoned to Bristol County Superior Court in Fall River on Friday for the case, which centers on the June 2013 slaying of semiprofessional football player Odin Lloyd.

Hernandez also faces separate murder charges in the shooting deaths of two other men in Boston in 2012.

Underscoring the celebrity nature of the case, the judge says people won't be allowed in the courthouse if they wear or carry anything NFL-, Patriots- or football-related.