Lawyers of accused Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnev are making their case to a three-judge appeallate panel on Thursday to move the suspect's trial out the city of Boston.

A three-member panel of the US Court of Appeals for the First Circuit has agreed to hear arguments on whether to move the high-profile trial out of Boston to a more neutral city like Washington, D.C. - a request that has already been rejected three times by the presiding district judge in the case, George O'Toole.

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The city was the site of the largest mass-casualty attack on US soil since the September 11, 2001 attack.

Three people died while 264 others were injured when two pressure cooker bombs exploded during the Boston Marathon.

Tsarnaev, 21, is accused of that attack as well as of fatally shooting a police officer three days later as he and his older brother, Tamerlan, prepared to flee the city.

The lawyers have questioned the composition of an impartial jury considering that too many residents of the area were directly affected by the April 15, 2013 attack.

Judge O'Toole junked the lawyers' request for three times and went on in selecting the jury.

O'Toole summoned more than 1,350 jurors to court early last month to fill out questionnaires.

Yahoo News reported that of the 1,337 Boston-area residents summoned for the trial, 68 percent of those called to serve already believe Tsarnaev is guilty, according to the defense, while 69 percent have a "self-identified" connection to the bombings, meaning they were affected or knew someone who was.

Sources said the court is trying to gather a pool of 70 "qualified" jurors, or people who not only have not formed an opinion about the case but also would be willing to impose the death penalty.

From there, the list would be whittled down by prosecutors and Tsarnaev's attorneys to a panel of 12 jurors and six alternates.

TagsBoston Maraton Bombing, Dzhokhar Tsarnev, Boston Marathon Bomber