San Diego lawyer helps defend Dzhokhar Tsarnaev

San Diego lawyer Judy Clarke has an almost perfect batting average. She represented Ted Kaczynski, called the Unabomber; Jared Lee Loughner, who shot Rep. Gabrielle Giffords; Zacarias Moussaoui, 9/11 suspect; and Susan Smith, who murdered her two sons. None was given the death penalty — something Clarke opposes.

Now she is on a so-called "all-star" team representing Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, whose trial will tentatively begin this month for his role in the Boston Marathon explosion of April 2013. Jury selection began today (January 5). Over three days, about 1200 people will be called to U.S. District Court in Boston as possible jury members.

The defense team has been consistently unable to get a change of venue in the case. Some media have reported that Clarke is the lead negotiator in an attempt to get Tsarnaev life in prison in return for his confession, but prosecutors are said to oppose the deal adamantly.

Other members of the defense team are Miriam Conrad, head of Boston's Federal Public Defender Office, and David Bruck, professor at Washington and Lee University School of Law, and director of the school's death penalty defense clinic. Clarke teamed with Bruck in defense of Susan Smith.

Clarke and her husband, Thomas H. Speedy Rice, have a law firm, Clarke & Rice, at 1010 Second Avenue. He has been a professor at two law schools, and specializes in international human rights. I called the office and got no response. Clarke is well known for being publicity-shy, despite the high-profile cases she tackles.