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 Robel Phillipos, 21, was so intoxicated the night of April 18,
2013, when he is charged with accompanying two other men to the
accused bomber's college dorm room, that he could not remember what
he did, his lawyers assert.
They contend that his confession to the FBI days later of going to
suspected bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's room with two other friends who
removed a backpack containing empty firework shells did not reflect
his actual memories of that evening but rather what FBI agents told
him happened.
On Thursday, they presented college friends of Phillipos, who
testified that he smoked copious amounts of marijuana the night of
the alleged visit as well as former Massachusetts Governor Michael
Dukakis, a friend of the Phillipos' family, who said the student
"was so confused he didn't know what he had said" to the FBI.
 Defense attorneys are also expected to call expert witnesses on how
marijuana affects the brain.
Federal prosecutors contend that Phillipos, of Cambridge,
Massachusetts, and two other friends of accused bomber Dzhokhar
Tsarnaev, went to the suspect's dorm room three days after the
attack that killed three people and injured more than 260, shortly
after the FBI released photos of the suspected bombers.
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One of the Kazakhs, Azamat Tazhayakov, was convicted in July of
obstruction of justice for taking the backpack. The other, Dias
Kadyrbayev, pleaded guilty to obstruction in August.
Phillipos, who faces the less serious charge of lying to
investigators, could be sentenced to up to 16 years in prison if
convicted.
Tsarnaev, 21, is awaiting trial on charges that carry the death
penalty.
(Reporting by Scott Malone; editing by Andrew Hay)
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