Feds want to know if Tsarnaev will claim mental illness

April 11--Federal prosecutors want to know if accused Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev will claim mental illness in his trial or, if convicted, during sentencing proceedings.

In court papers filed today, prosecutors asked "for notification in writing of any intention by the defendant to introduce expert evidence relating to a mental disease or defect or any other mental condition of the defendant which bears on either the issue of guilt or the issue of punishment."

Prosecutors have asked for such notification by May 7.

Tsarnaev, 20, is currently set to stand trial in November on charges that he and his slain brother, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26, detonated a pair of crude pressure-cooker bombs near the Boylston Street finish line, killing 8-year-old Martin Richard, 29-year-old Krystle Campbell and 23-year-old Lingzi Lu. More than 260 others were injured, and the Tsarnaev brothers are also accused of murdering MIT campus cop Sean Collier in his cruiser days later in a frantic attempt to flee the area.

Tamerlan Tsarnaev was killed in neighboring Watertown hours later during a shootout with police. Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was found hiding in a drydocked boat, also in Watertown, after an intensive daylong manhunt that paralyzed greater Boston.

Prosecutors are pursuing the death penalty.

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