AKIPRESS.COM - The long-awaited trial of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is set to begin today with opening statements in federal court in Boston, the start of what could be the most complete official recounting yet of the Boston Marathon bombings that forever changed the city nearly two years ago.

US District Judge George A. O’Toole Jr. completed the nearly two-month-long process of seating 12 jurors and six alternates Tuesday morning, and defense lawyers appeared ready for a trial in which they will present Tsarnaev as a reluctant participant in the fatal bombings, reports Boston Globe. 

The defense lawyers’ goal: to save him from the death penalty.

The jurors who could decide Tsarnaev’s fate include a house painter, a young auditor who was recently fired from his job, a fashion designer, an air traffic controller, and a legal secretary at a law firm.

Those seated on the panel said they could remain open-minded and decide the case fairly. All said they could impose the death penalty if it is warranted.

“You don’t know if someone is guilty or not until the case is over, that’s kind of a point of a trial,” said one juror, a clerk at a Barnes & Noble store on the North Shore.

Ten women and eight men were selected to serve on the jury in the Marathon bombing trial.

O’Toole has told jurors the trial could last three to four months — possibly extending into June. Court officials are expecting a heavy turnout of spectators, and many of the bombing survivors are expected to attend.

Tsarnaev, 21, faces 30 charges, including 17 that carry the possibility of the death penalty, for his alleged role in the bombings at the Boston Marathon finish line on April 15, 2013. One bomb exploded in front of Marathon Sports on Boylston Street, killing Krystle Marie Campbell, a 29-year-old from Medford. The second bomb went off in front of the Forum restaurant, killing Lingzi Lu, a Boston University graduate student, and Martin Richard, an 8-year-old boy from Dorchester.