Jurors hearing the Boston . Marathon bombing trial are barred from attending this year's . race, a federal judge told the panel on Tuesday as part of . instructions ahead of the trial's sentencing phase. Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 21, was convicted last week of planting . two homemade bombs at the crowded finish line of the world . famous marathon in 2013, killing three people and injuring 264 . others. The same jury that convicted Tsarnaev will hear testimony on . whether he should be sentenced to death or life in prison for . his crimes, starting next Tuesday, the day after the 2015 . marathon takes place. Scroll down for video . Judge George O'Toole told jurors in the Boston Marathon bombing case they are not to attend this year's race or related events . At Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency (MEMA) headquarters in Framingham, Mass., director Kurt Scwartz, at podium, talks with media about public safety planning for the 2015 Boston Marathon . 'Do not attend the Boston Marathon or any related events or . gatherings,' Judge George O'Toole told jurors in U.S. District . Court in Boston, describing the sentencing phase as 'sensitive.' The famed race, which draws elite runners from around the . world, takes place on the Patriots Day holiday in Massachusetts . - commemorating the first battles of the American Revolution - . and has taken on special significance for the city's residents . since the 2013 bomb attack. It will take place this Monday, April 20. O'Toole said the sentencing phase of the trial - in which . witnesses will again be called to the stand - is expected to . take four weeks, followed by jury deliberations. 'In the next phase of this case you will learn a lot more,' defense lawyer Judy Clarke told jurors during closing statements . in Tsarnaev's trial. O'Toole also reminded jurors to avoid all media coverage, . especially on the second anniversary of the bombings on . Wednesday. The prosecution is expected to portray the ethnic Chechen as an Islamic extremist adherent of al Qaeda who planted one of the two homemade pressure cooker bombs at the race's finish line on April 15, 2013, because he 'wanted to punish America for what it was doing to his people,' in the words of Assistant U.S. Attorney Aloke Chakravarty. The defense, meanwhile, is expected to play up the role of his 26-year-old brother, Tamerlan, in carrying out the attack. In closing arguments last week, defense attorney Judith Clarke contended that Tamerlan was the driving force behind the bombing, with Dzhokhar following along. Tamerlan died during the brothers' chaotic final day of freedom. Three days after the bombing, the pair shot dead a police officer and carjacked a Chinese businessman as they attempted to flee the city. The carjacking victim escaped and alerted police to their plans, setting the stage for a gunfight between the Tsarnaevs and law enforcement that ended when Dzhokhar roared off in the stolen SUV, running over his brother. In this April 21, 2014 file photo, a Boston Police K-9 officer and his dog patrol with a National Guardsman, rear right, along Commonwealth Avenue near the finish line of the 118th Boston Marathon . In this April 21, 2014 file photo, a Boston Police officer stands near the finish line as runners approach during the 118th Boston Marathon in Boston . During the guilt phase of the trial, U.S. District Judge George O'Toole had limited the amount of evidence the defense could present about the relationship between the brothers, who had immigrated to the United States from Russia a decade before the attack. But the sentencing phase, which the Justice Department announced on Friday would begin on April 21, will provide the defense with an opportunity to focus on that element of the case and possibly to call Tsarnaev to testify. The death penalty is controversial in Massachusetts, where it is illegal under state law but allowed in federal cases. The state has not seen an execution since 1947. The bombing killed restaurant manager Krystle Campbell, 29; Chinese exchange student Lingzi Lu, 23; and 8-year-old Martin Richard. Tsarnaev also was found guilty of the fatal shooting of Massachusetts of Institute of Technology police officer Sean Collier, 26.
Judge George O'Toole told jurors in the Boston Marathon bombing case they are not to attend this year's race or related events . The race takes place next Monday, April 20, and marks two years since Dzhokhar Tsarnaev and his brother planted two bombs at the finish line . This as the the sentencing phase of the trial, in which witnesses will again be called to the stand, is expected begin next week and to take four weeks . Tsarnaev faces either life in prison or the death penalty .