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 Robel Phillipos, a 20-year-old resident of Cambridge,
Massachusetts, is charged with lying to investigators about his role
in the April 18, 2013, visit to the dorm of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, three
days after the bombing that killed three people and injured 264.
Two other friends, Kazakh exchange students Azamat Tazhayakov and
Dias Kadyrbayev, faced the more serious charge of obstruction of
justice for removing the items from Tsarnaev's room at the
University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth and dropping them in a
dumpster.
 Tazhayakov was found guilty of obstruction in July and Kadyrbayev
last month pleaded guilty to the charges, in exchange for a
seven-year sentence that was less than the 25 years he could have
faced if convicted at trial.
Phillipos, who has been largely confined to his home since his May
2013 arrest, was to go on trial in U.S. District Court in
Massachusetts later this month and faces a sentence of up to 16
years in prison if convicted.
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Tsarnaev is awaiting a trial set to begin in November. He faces the
possibility of execution if found guilty of carrying out the deadly
bombing and also murdering a university police officer three days
later.
(Reporting by Scott Malone; Editing by Doina Chiacu)
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