A judge has excused 124 potential jurors in the federal death penalty trial of Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.

They were excused Monday from a group of about 400 who were the first of 1,350 people who last week filled out 28-page questionnaires to weed out people with obvious conflicts.

Two more groups will be trimmed before Tsarnaev's attorneys and prosecutors begin individual questioning Thursday. They are expected to be asked about their backgrounds, their feelings about the death penalty and whether they have formed an opinion about Tsarnaev.

The 21-year-old is accused of carrying out twin bombings near the finish line of the 2013 marathon. Three people were killed and more than 260 injured. He's also accused in the fatal shooting of an MIT police officer.

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