Boston suspect’s pals deny charges
Pair accused of obstructing justice after marathon bombing
BOSTON — Two college friends of the surviving Boston Marathon bombing suspect pleaded not guilty Tuesday to allegations they conspired to obstruct justice by agreeing to destroy and conceal some of their friend’s belongings as he evaded authorities.
Dias Kadyrbayev and Azamat Tazhayakov, both Kazakhstan nationals who shared an apartment in New Bedford, Mass., became friends with bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev when they all started school at the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth in 2011.
Also on Tuesday, lawyers for the father of a Chechen man who was fatally shot during questioning about ties to Dzhokhar’s brother, Tamerlan, said he would have had trouble attacking officers because he was recovering from a knee injury.
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is accused of setting off two bombs near the race’s finish line that killed three and wounded hundreds on April 15. He has pleaded not guilty. Authorities say he was working with his older brother Tamerlan, who died during the manhunt for the suspects days later.
On April 18, Tsarnaev’s friends took his laptop from his dorm room, along with a backpack that had fireworks with explosive powder and a jar of petroleum jelly, federal authorities alleged in an indictment last week.
They say Kadyrbayev had got a text from Tsarnaev suggesting that he could go to his dorm room and “take what’s there.”
The indictment also alleged that Kadyrbayev later put the backpack with the fireworks and jelly in a trash bin outside the New Bedford apartment after Tazhayakov agreed.
It also said Kadyrbayev told Tazhayakov he believed Tsarnaev had used the jelly “to make bombs.”
The indictment also alleged that the next morning, as Tsarnaev was identified in news reports as a bombing suspect, the two saw a garbage truck empty the bin.
Kadyrbayev’s attorney has said his client never knowingly took evidence from the dorm room and fully co-operated with the FBI. The attorney said his client also was part of voluntarily turning over Tsarnaev’s laptop and telling the FBI where to find the backpack.
Tazhayakov’s lawyer has said his client never agreed to anything when it came to disposal of the backpack with the fireworks. He said his client hasn’t done wrong and he’s been trying to get authorities to drop the case.
Both defendants face up to 25 years in prison on charges of obstruction of justice and conspiracy to obstruct justice. Family members of both attended the hearing.
Meanwhile, Ibragim Todashev, who was fatally shot during questioning about ties to Tamerlan Tsarnaev, would have had trouble attacking officers because he was recovering from a knee injury, lawyers for his father said.
The 27-year-old Chechen was killed in May while FBI agents and police questioned him at his Florida apartment. Officials originally said Todashev lunged at an agent with a knife. But they later said it was no longer clear what happened. An investigation is being led by the FBI.
At a news conference Tuesday, the lawyers said that a former detective they hired to investigate the death told them that all the agents in the room would have drawn their weapons and fired if they believed their lives were in danger — but based on their findings, they don’t believe that happened.
“It was the FBI agent who shot all of the bullets,” said Hassan Shibly, Tampa executive director of CAIR-Florida, a civil rights and legal organization. “If this were a survival shooting, typically all of the officers will draw their weapons.”