Today in Boston, federal Judge George O’Toole Jr. said jury selection in the Tsarnaev trial should begin on January 5. Outside the court house a number of people protested. Among them was the mother in law of Ibragim Todashev, who was killed by law enforcement in his Orlando apartment in May 2013.

CBS Boston reports:

A woman who identified herself as the mother-in-law of a Florida man who was shot by the FBI while being questioned about Tamerlan Tsarnaev said she drove two days from her home in Georgia to stand outside the courthouse. Elena Teyer held a placard with photos of son-in-law Ibragim Todashev.

“I am dead because I knew Tsarnaevs. I knew the truth,” the sign read in part.

The FBI says one of its agents, later identified by the press as former Oakland cop Aaron McFarlane, killed Todashev after the latter allegedly lunged at a Massachusetts State Trooper. According to officials, two MA troopers and an FBI agent had traveled down to Florida to interview the Chechen immigrant in relation to an unsolved triple murder that took place in Waltham in 2011. Todashev, who had trained with Tamerlan Tsarnaev in Massachusetts, was shot seven times and died before reaching the hospital. The FBI claims that Todashev was in the middle of penning a confession to the 2011 murders when he lunged at one of the cops, prompting McFarlane to open fire.

Soon after Todashev's death, federal law enforcement and immigration officials began rounding up his friends and acquaintances. Many of them were held incommunicado or deported.

The ACLU of Massachusetts has called on Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley to investigate the role of the state troopers who were present when Todashev was killed. Thus far her office has declined to investigate, claiming that she lacks jurisdiction because the interrogation and killing took place in Florida.