|
 U.S. prosecutors contend that Kazakh exchange student Azamat
Tazhayakov, accompanied by two friends, went to Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's
dorm room three days after the April 15, 2013, attack that killed
three people and injured 264 and removed a laptop computer and
backpack containing empty fireworks shells.
Tazhayakov, now 20, and his roommate, Dias Kadyrbayev, decided later
that night to throw away the backpack after growing concerned their
friend Tsarnaev was a suspect in the investigation, contend
prosecutors, who charged them with obstruction of justice and
conspiracy.
Attorneys for Tazhayakov contend their client never touched the
laptop or the backpack, describing him as simply accompanying
Kadyrbayev to the room at the University of Massachusetts at
Dartmouth on April 18, 2013, hours after the FBI released
surveillance photos showing Tsarnaev and his older brother at the
attack site.
 During six days of testimony at Tazhayakov's trial in U.S. District
Court in Boston, jurors heard FBI agents testify that Tazhayakov
admitted taking the backpack and later watching as a garbage truck
hauled away the contents of a dumpster in which it had been dropped.
But they also saw a videotaped deposition of Kadyrbayev's
girlfriend, who has not been charged, in which she said she told
Kadyrbayev to "get it out" of his apartment in New Bedford,
Massachusetts, about 50 miles (80 km) south of Boston.
Tazhayakov and Kadyrbayev, who is to be tried separately later this
year, were ordered out of their apartment by heavily armed law
enforcement agents during the April 19, 2013, manhunt for Tsarnaev
and questioned until the predawn hours of the next morning at a
state police barracks.
[to top of second column] |
STATEMENTS RULED ADMISSIBLE
Tazhayakov's attorneys had sought to persuade U.S. District Judge
Douglas Woodlock to throw out the statements he made during that
interrogation, describing them as involuntary. Woodlock said on
Tuesday the statements may have been "improvident" but were
admissible.
Tazhayakov could face up to 25 years in prison if convicted of
obstruction of justice and conspiracy. Kadyrbayev faces the same
charges.
Both men were arrested on immigration charges on April 20, 2013, and
have since been in federal custody.
The third friend, Robel Phillipos of Cambridge, Massachusetts, is
accused of the lesser charge of lying to investigators.
The three men are not charged with any role in the bombing.
Tsarnaev's older brother, Tamerlan, died after a gunbattle with
police days after the bombing. The surviving brother is awaiting
trial on charges that carry the death penalty.
(Reporting by Scott Malone; Editing by Peter Cooney)
[© 2014 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2014 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
 |
