BOSTON (AP) — Jurors in the federal trial of a friend of Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev resumed deliberations Monday, their fifth day of weighing allegations he lied to the FBI during the bombing investigation.
Robel Phillipos is accused of lying about being in Tsarnaev’s dorm room three days after the bombing, when two other friends removed a backpack containing fireworks and other potential evidence.
Phillipos’ lawyers say he couldn’t clearly remember what happened because he had smoked marijuana heavily that day.
Last week, jurors deliberated for about 26 hours over four days. They began deliberating Tuesday.
Two bombs that exploded near the marathon finish line on April 15, 2013, killed three people and injured more than 260. Tsarnaev is awaiting trial on 30 federal charges and could face the death penalty, if convicted.
Phillipos, 21, attended Cambridge Rindge and Latin School and the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth with Tsarnaev. He is not accused of participating in the bombing.
Prosecutors say Phillipos and two other friends went to Tsarnaev’s dorm room three days after the marathon bombing and hours after the FBI released photos of Tsarnaev and his brother as suspects in the bombing. The other two friends were convicted of conspiracy and obstruction of justice for removing the backpack and Tsarnaev’s laptop computer from his dorm room.
Phillipos is accused of telling a string of lies before finally acknowledging that he was in Tsarnaev’s dorm room with the other men. His lawyers told the jury he could not clearly remember what he did that night because he had smoked marijuana at least six times that day. They also said the FBI coerced him into signing a statement.
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