The federal judge who sentenced Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev to death has recused himself from a terrorism case pending in the same courthouse, according to a legal filing.
US District Court Judge George A. O’Toole Jr. said in an order filed Friday in federal court in Boston that he was stepping aside from the case pending against David Wright and Nicholas Rovinski. O’Toole gave no reason for the recusal.
Wright, a 25-year-old resident of Everett, is charged with obstructing justice, and he and Rovinski, 24, of Warwick, R.I., are charged with conspiring to provide material support to a terrorist organization.
They are alleged to have been involved in a plot with Wright’s uncle, Usaamah Rahim, to kill police officers in Massachusetts.
Boston police and FBI agents fatally shot Rahim, 26, of Roslindale, in a parking lot near his home this month, after he allegedly lunged at them with a military-style knife.
A spokeswoman for US Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz declined to comment on O’Toole’s decision to recuse himself, and lawyers for Wright and Rovinski could not be reached for comment.
On Wednesday, O’Toole formally sentenced Tsarnaev to death for his role in the April 15, 2013, bombings and said from the bench that the 21-year-old “murdered and maimed innocent people” and did it “willfully and intentionally.”
O’Toole also presided over the trial of Tarek Mehanna of Sudbury, who is serving a 17½-year prison term for providing material support to Al Qaeda.
Nancy Gertner, a retired federal judge and former colleague of O’Toole who now teaches at Harvard Law School, said O’Toole may want to step out of the limelight.
“One explanation could be as simple as he wants a break from national security, high-profile cases,” she said.
US District Court Judge William G. Young will take over the case involving Wright and Rovinski, who are in custody and have a detention hearing set for July 29.
Travis Andersen can be reached at travis.andersen@globe.com.