Robel Phillipos, the college friend of Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev charged with lying to investigators, distanced himself from two others arrested last week, saying he should be released on bail in part because he isn't accused of destroying evidence, Bloomberg News reports.
"Phillipos is not charged with having any knowledge whatsoever of the Boston Marathon bombings of April 15, 2013, or with helping the surviving suspect after the incident," his attorney, Derege Demissie, said in a filing Friday in Boston federal court. "Nor is there any allegation that Mr. Phillipos removed, tampered with, or destroyed any potential evidence after the bombing."
Demissie said the case is about a "frightened and confused 19-year-old who was subjected to intense questioning and interrogation, without the benefit of counsel, and in the context of one of the worst attacks against the nation. The weight of the federal government under such circumstances can have a devastatingly crushing effect on the ability of an adolescent to withstand the enormous pressure and respond rationally."
Tsarnaev, 19, is charged with masterminding the attack with his brother Tamerlan, 26, killing three people and injuring more than 200 near the conclusion of the race. He faces a possible death sentence if convicted. Tamerlan died in a police shootout in the days after the bombing.