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 Kazakh exchange student Azamat Tazhayakov and Robel Phillipos, of
Cambridge, Massachusetts, joined a third friend and fellow student
in going to Tsarnaev's dorm room three days after the April 2013
bombing, after the FBI released images of Tsarnaev and his older
brother, Tamerlan, identifying them as suspects.
The third friend, Dias Kadyrbayev, also of Kazakhstan, was sentenced
on Tuesday to six years in prison after pleading guilty to
obstructing the investigation into the attack that killed three
people and injured 264. Prosecutors had sought a sentence of seven
years.
Before he was sentenced, Kadyrbayev apologized for his actions,
saying, "I know my bad decision put shame on my name."
Prosecutors are seeking a four-year sentence for Tazhayakov, well
below the maximum of 25 years allowed by law, which they said
reflected his willingness to testify at Tsarnaev's trial. A federal
jury found Tazhayakov guilty of obstruction of justice.
Phillipos, who was found guilty of the lesser charge of lying to
investigators, could face up to eight years in prison.
The pair, both of whom were 19 at the time of the attacks, will be
sentenced in separate hearings in federal court in Boston.
All three men, along with Tsarnaev, were students at the University
of Massachusetts at the time of the bombing. Tazhayakov and
Kadyrbayev were roommates at the time.
Tsarnev was sentenced to death last month by the same jury that
found him guilty of the April 15, 2013, attack.
During their trials last year, lawyers for Tazhayakov and Phillipos
painted their clients as naive, marijuana-smoking teenagers who did
not understand the consequences of going to Tsarnaev's dorm room at
the university and removing the backpack.
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Kadyrbayev later threw the backpack into a dumpster by the apartment
he shared with Tazhayakov. FBI investigators recovered it from a
landfill several days later.
Empty fireworks shells found by the backpack were shown as evidence
at Tsarnaev's trial, where prosecutors said the black powder used in
the bombs was harvested from fireworks.
Michael Dukakis, the former Massachusetts governor and 1988
Democratic presidential candidate, who is a friend of the Phillipos
family, urged leniency in a Wednesday letter to U.S. District Judge
Douglas Woodlock filed to the court.
"Robel is a young man who could and should have a great future ahead
of him," Dukakis wrote. "For the life of me, I can't understand why
justice would be served by incarcerating him."
(Reporting by Scott Malone; Editing by Leslie Adler)
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