Tsarnaev lawyers want trial next year, expected to last 3 months

D. Tsarnaev in court. Picture: Jane Flavell Collins / APProsecutors say the trial of Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzkokhar Tsarnaev is expected to last three months, plus another six weeks if he is convicted and jurors then have to decide whether he should be put to death, foxboston.com reports.

The trial estimate was included in a joint status report filed in court Monday by federal prosecutors and Tsarnaev's lawyers ahead of a Wednesday hearing.

In the report, defense lawyers say they want a trial date no earlier than September 2015; prosecutors did not include a request for a date.

The 20-year-old Tsarnaev has pleaded not guilty in the attack last April that killed three people and wounded more than 260. Authorities say he and his older brother, Tamerlan, built and planted two pressure cooker bombs near the finish line.