BOSTON (AP) — Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is back inside a courtroom for the first time since July 2013.

Tsarnaev's final pretrial hearing is underway in Boston. Jury selection for his federal trial begins Jan. 5.

Tsarnaev was led into the courtroom by U.S. marshals. He is wearing a black sweater and gray trousers and sporting a scruffy beard. He smiled to his attorneys and one patted him on the arm.

The courtroom is packed with FBI agents, police who worked on the case, and more than a dozen survivors and family members.

Tsarnaev faces the possibility of the death penalty if he is convicted in the April 2013 bombings, which killed three people and injured more than 260.

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