UPDATE: Both plead “Not guilty” to all charges. 15-20 witnesses expected during estimated two week trial. Next court appearance is September 26 for a status conference.
This afternoon, the two friends of Boston Marathon bombing Suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev will be arraigned on charges of conspiracy to obstruct justice. Dias Kadyrbayev (DYE’-us kad-uhr-BYE-ev) and Azamat Tazhayakov (AHZ’-maht tuh-ZAYE’-uh-kov), both 19, were friends of Tsarnaev at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth and proceeded to dispose of evidence from the alleged assailants dorm upon learning of his possibly involvement in the notorious explosions that rocked Boylston Street.
According to Fox 25 News, “Prosecutors allege Kadyrbayev received a text message from Tsarnaev the day after the FBI released the bombing suspects’ photos, telling him to remove items from the 19-year-old’s dorm room” which are thought to include, or so says the Associated Press, a laptop, backpack, and fireworks which authorities quickly found in a New Bedford, MA landfill.
Both students, hailing from Kazakhstan, face up to 20 years in prison on the obstruction of justice count, up to five years in prison on the conspiracy count, each to be followed by up to three years of supervised release and a $250,000 fine should a jury opt to convict. Their lawyers purport that neither man partook in the actual Boston bombings.
Tsarnaev of course stands accused of 30 counts that include conspiracy and use of weapons of mass destruction, to all of which he has plead not guilty. The suspect, along with older brother Tamerlan, are thought to have been the ones who detonated two pressure cooker explosive devices full of shrapnel near the finish line of the 2013 Boston Marathon, killing four and injuring 264.
34 of the surviving victims were subjected to amputation due to the severity of the wounds incurred during the blasts. Tamerlan was killed after engaging in a shootout with police and being run over by “Jahar” with the getaway car. He was eventually pulled, bloody and bruised, from a dry-docked boat in the Boston suburb of Watertown, MA after authorities searched in nearby proximity for suspect only to find him within mere blocks of the crime zone radius they set up.
