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Jury begins weighing verdict on friend of accused Boston Marathon bomber

His lawyer said that Robel Phillipos, a friend of accused Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, was coerced into admitting he lied to the FBI.

By Frances Burns
A photograph of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev released by the FBI after the Boston Marathon bombing in 2013 and before his arrest. UPI
A photograph of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev released by the FBI after the Boston Marathon bombing in 2013 and before his arrest. UPI | License Photo

BOSTON, Oct. 21 (UPI) -- Lawyers disputed Tuesday whether a friend of Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev knew what he was doing when he was questioned by the FBI.

After final arguments were completed in federal court in Boston, the charges against Robel Phillipos were in the hands of a jury. Phillipos, a student at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth when he was arrested last year, faces up to 16 years in prison if found guilty of lying to the FBI.

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Phillipos' lawyer argued that the young man was coerced into confessing he had made false statements. The defense argument is that Phillipos was high on marijuana when he went to Tsarnaev's dorm room with other friends and was incapable of giving accurate information.

A prosecutor said that Phillipos' lies affected the investigation.

Tsarnaev's trial is expected to begin in January. He and his brother, Tamerlan, allegedly set off two bombs at the Marathon finish line on April 15, 2013, and killed a Massachusetts Institute of Technology police officer a few days later.

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Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26, died in a confrontation with police a few hours before his brother was arrested.

Phillipos, a member of an Ethiopian immigrant family, and Tsarnaev were longtime friends who graduated from Cambridge Rindge and Latin School before going on to UMass. Two other UMass students, Azamat Tazhayakov and Dias Kadyrbayev, are scheduled to be sentenced soon on obstruction of justice charges.

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