A federal court has denied a request by attorneys for Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev to remove the judge overseeing the protracted legal battle over his death sentence.

The US First Circuit Court of Appeals rejected a claim that comments a judge made about the case on a podcast and at public events raised concerns about his impartiality.

Lawyers for Tsarnaev petitioned the First Circuit to recuse U.S. District Court Judge George O’Toole from his case based on claims of bias. They pointed to statements O’Toole made on two educational panels and a podcast and statements he made to jurors during the trial.