(UPDATE) Judge denies Tsarnaev request to suspend jury selection in light of Paris attacks

UPDATE – A U.S. judge on Wednesday rejected the latest plea by lawyers for accused Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev to suspend jury selection for his trial due to the recent attacks in Paris.

Tsarnaev’s attorneys filed papers Tuesday night in federal court seeking to suspend jury selections, which were set to resume Thursday.

In the court filing, attorneys said the delay would “allow some time for the extraordinary prejudice flowing from these events – and the comparison of those events to those at issue in this case – to diminish.”

On Jan. 7, the third day of jury selection in Tsarnaev’s case, Islamic terrorists killed 12 people at the Charlie Hedbo magazine office in Paris. A policewoman and four hostages were later killed in the aftermath.

Tsarnaev, 21, has pleaded not guilty to carrying out the deadly 2013 terror attack that killed three people and injured 264 others. Jury selection began on Jan. 5.

Defense attorneys cited remarks made by the media and politicians drawing parallels between the French attacks and the Marathon bombing

“The supposed parallels included the fact that the suspects were brothers, that they reportedly were influenced by the lectures and writings of Anwar al-Awlaki, that they were “home- grown” terrorists, and that they attacked civilians in a Western city,” attorneys say in the filing.

Jury selection in Tsarnaev’s case was set to resume Thursday. The court has already surveyed 1,400 prospective jurors. A total of 3,00 have been summonsed to federal court in Boston.

His attorneys specifically pointed to a USA Today piece quoting Massachusetts Congressman William Keating as saying, “Against the backdrop of jury selection for Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, it’s like Boston is reliving what happened all over again…I’m watching what’s happening in Paris, and I’m thinking of Watertown.”

The court papers also cited a WBUR interview quoting Keating as describing the similarities as “almost eerie,” and detailing how the attacks resonate in Boston:

“The fact that the suspects are brothers, they became radicalized, their contact with foreign insurgents, the massive manhunt that sprawled into the suburbs the way it did in Watertown, the tragedy of another police officer being shot and killed, all of those things I’m sure brought thoughts of the marathon and the tragedy home to people back in Massachusetts,” Keating said in the interview.