With the death penalty in the marathon bombing case due to be discussed today, federal prosecutors will push Oct. 31 as their deadline to recommend to the U.S. Department of Justice whether terror suspect Dzhokhar “Jahar” Tsarnaev should be put to death if convicted of the April 15 Boston Marathon bombing.

If the DOJ greenlights capital punishment, prosecutors expect to make the announcement by Jan. 31, according to court documents filed Friday.

At the request of Tsarnaev’s defense team, the death penalty debate will be taken up this morning at Tsarnaev’s status conference before U.S. District Court Judge George A. O’Toole Jr., according to a joint status report filed with the court. Tsarnaev, held without bail, will not attend.

Tsarnaev, 20, pleaded not guilty in July to charges he helped his slain brother Tamerlan Tsarnaev plant two pressure-cooker bombs near the race finish line, killing three and injuring more than 260 others, before murdering MIT Police Officer Sean Collier.

Tsarnaev faces 30 charges, 17 of which carry a possible death penalty. Prosecutors claim they’ve been trying to get the defense team’s “input on the death penalty authorization decision” since July with no success.