Jury Begins Deliberating in Trial of Suspected Marathon Bomber’s Friend Robel Phillipos
After two weeks of arguments, the trial of Robel Phillipos headed to jury deliberations on Tuesday. Phillipos, the friend of accused Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, is accused of lying to authorities.
Prosecutors say Phillipos, 21, intentionally lied about his whereabouts and what he saw on April 18, 2013, when he and two friends allegedly visited Tsarnaev’s dorm room and removed a backpack of evidence after the marathon bombings.
Phillipos’s defense team contends that he was a scared 19-year-old at the time who was “high out of his mind’’ during interviews with investigators and could not remember clearly.
In their closing arguments, prosecutors said that Phillipos admitted he had lied to investigators several times in a signed confession, and they said that those lies materially affected the Marathon bombing investigation. Prosecutors noted that Phillipos never mentioned any marijuana-related memory problems during interviews.
The defense’s closing argument lasted more than an hour. Lawyers countered that Phillipos’s memory of the April 18 day was affected by his marijuana use. They also argued that his signed confession was coerced by investigators and called it “manufactured.’’
Phillipos is the third friend of Tsarnaev to face related charges. Azamat Tazhayakov was convicted of obstruction of justice and conspiracy charges in July. Another Tsarnaev friend, Dias Kadyrbayev, pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice charges in August. Both are due to be sentenced later this fall.
Phillipos faces a maximum of 16 years in prison if he is convicted of the two charges.
We’re following the closing arguments in the Storify below:
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