Jury Deliberations Underway For Boston Marathon Bombing Suspect’s Friend
Dias Kadyrbayev, Robel Phillipos, and Azamat Tazhayakov. (Photo credit: U.S. Attorney’s Office – District of Massachusetts)
BOSTON (CBS/AP) – Jurors began their first full day of deliberations on Wednesday in the trial for the friend of Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.
Attorneys gave closing statements on Tuesday as prosecutors told jurors that Robel Phillipos told several lies to investigators who were searching for Tsarnaev in the aftermath of the bombings.
Phillipos’ defense team argued that he had smoked marijuana for 12 hours straight before investigators questioned him.
Just after 11 a.m. on Wednesday, Phillipos, his attorneys and prosecutors went into the judge’s chambers. They emerged soon after, however, and prosecutors said there was an “issue not of consequence,” adding that if it had been a jury question it would’ve been handled in open court.
Phillipos faces two counts of obstruction, charged with lying to the FBI about being in Tsarnaev’s dorm room at the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth while two other friends removed a backpack containing fireworks and other potential evidence several days after the April 15, 2013, attack.
If convicted he could be sentenced to a maximum of up to eight years in federal prison on each of the two counts.
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