Boston Marathon bombing

=== Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's roommates ===

==== Personal backgrounds ====
Robel Phillipos (19) was a U.S. citizen of [[Ethiopian American|Ethiopian descent]] living in Cambridge who was arrested and faced with charges of knowingly [[making false statements]] to police.<ref name="businessinsider" /><ref name="USA.Friend">{{cite web|url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/05/01/boston-marathon-bombings-tsarnaev-phillipos/2127469/|title=Bomb suspect's friend Robel Phillipos: Who is he?|last=Winter|first=Michael|date=May 1, 2013|work=[[USA Today]] | access-date=January 2, 2015}}</ref> He graduated from high school in 2011 with Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.<ref name="Auto9P-6" />
Dias Kadyrbayev (19) and Azamat Tazhayakov (20) were natives of [[Kazakhstan]] living in the U.S.<ref name="AutoLC-127" /><ref name="AutoQU-10" /> They were Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's roommates in an off-campus housing complex in [[New Bedford, Massachusetts]], where Tsarnaev had sometimes stayed.<ref name="businessinsider" />

Phillipos, Kadyrbayev, Tazhayakov, and Tsarnaev entered the [[University of Massachusetts Dartmouth]] in the fall of 2011 and knew each other well. After seeing photos of Tsarnaev on television, they traveled to his dorm room where Kadyrbayev and Tazhayakov retrieved a backpack and laptop belonging to Tsarnaev, while Phillipos acted as lookout. The backpack was discarded, but police recovered it and its contents in a nearby New Bedford landfill on April 26. During interviews, the men initially denied visiting the dorm room but later admitted their actions.<ref name="businessinsider" /><ref name="usatoday" />

==== Arrests and legal proceedings ====
Kadyrbayev and Tazhayakov were arrested by police at the off-campus housing complex during the night of April 18–19. An unidentified girlfriend of one of the men was also arrested,<ref name="AutoLC-127" /><ref name="AutoQU-10" /> but all three were soon released.<ref name="businessinsider" />

Kadyrbayev and Tazhayakov were re-arrested in [[New Bedford]] on April 20 and held on immigration-related violations. They appeared before a federal [[immigration judge]] on May 1 and were charged with overstaying their [[student visa]]s.<ref name="AutoQU-11" /><ref name="AutoLC-129" /><ref name="AutoLC-130" /> That same day, they were charged criminally with:

{{Blockquote |willfully conspir(ing) with each other to commit an offense against the United States... by knowingly destroying, concealing, and covering up objects belonging to Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, namely, a backpack containing fireworks and a laptop computer, with the intent to impede, obstruct, and influence the criminal investigation of the Marathon bombing.<ref name="AutoQU-12" /><ref name="AutoQU-13" />}}

Kadyrbayev and Tazhayakov were indicted by a [[Grand juries in the United States|federal grand jury]] on August 8, 2013, on charges of [[conspiracy (crime)|conspiracy]] to [[Obstruction of justice|obstruct justice]] for helping Dzhokhar Tsarnaev dispose of a laptop computer, fireworks, and a backpack after the bombing. Each faced up to 25 years in prison and deportation if convicted.<ref>{{cite news|title=2 friends of Boston bombing suspect indicted|url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/08/08/boston-marathon-bomber-friends-charged/2632191/|newspaper=USA Today|access-date=August 9, 2013|date=August 8, 2013}}</ref> Tazhayakov was convicted of obstruction of justice and conspiracy on July 21, 2014.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://news.msn.com/crime-justice/marathon-suspects-friend-guilty-of-impeding-probe|title=News|work=msn.com|access-date=April 8, 2015}}{{Dead link|date=November 2019 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>

Kadyrbayev pleaded guilty to obstruction charges on August 22, 2014,<ref>{{cite magazine|title=Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's College Friend Pleads Guilty|url=http://www.bostonmagazine.com/news/blog/2014/08/22/dias-kadyrbayev-dzhokhar-tsarnaevs-friend-pleads-guilty/|magazine=Boston Magazine|access-date=April 8, 2015|date=August 22, 2014}}</ref> but sentencing was delayed pending the [[U.S. Supreme Court]]'s ruling in ''[[Yates v. United States (2015)|Yates v. United States]]''.<ref>{{cite news|title=Tsarnaev friends' sentencing delayed|url=http://www.wcvb.com/news/tsarnaev-friends-sentencing-delayed/29595756|publisher=WCBV 5 (ABC)|access-date=April 8, 2015|date=November 7, 2014}}</ref> Kadyrbayev was sentenced to six years in prison in June 2015.<ref name="McMahoSargent">{{cite web|first1=Shannon|last1=McMahon|first2=Hilary|last2=Sargent|url=https://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/2015/06/05/tsarnaev-friend-tazhayakov-sentenced-months-for-obstruction-justice/ZMJOlcDZZr0qRHqi251RYK/story.html|title=Tsarnaev friend Tazhayakov sentenced to 42 months for obstruction of justice|work=The Boston Globe|date=June 5, 2015}}</ref> He was deported to [[Kazakhstan]] in October 2018.<ref>{{Cite magazine|url=https://time.com/5443092/dias-muratovich-kadyrbayev-deported-boston-bombings/|title=Friend Who Helped Boston Bomber Dispose of Evidence Deported to Kazakhstan|magazine=Time|language=en|access-date=September 12, 2019}}</ref>

Tazhayakov pleaded not guilty and went to trial, arguing that "Kadyrbayev was the mastermind behind destroying the evidence and that Tazhayakov only 'attempted obstruction'." Jurors returned a guilty verdict, however, and he was sentenced to 42 months ({{frac|3|1|2}} years) in prison in June 2015. [[U.S. District Judge]] [[Douglas Woodlock]] gave a lighter sentence to Tazhayakov than to Kadyrbayev, who was viewed as more culpable.<ref name="McMahoSargent" /> Tazhayakov was released in May 2016 and subsequently deported.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2016/05/16/tsarnaev-friend-released-from-prison/1WbAvRNlmSjPdhjDTUBc9K/story.html|title=Tsarnaev friend to be released from prison|last=Valencia|first=Milton|date=May 17, 2016|work=The Boston Globe|access-date=July 12, 2017}}</ref>

Phillipos was arrested and faced charges of knowingly [[making false statements]] to police.<ref name="businessinsider" /><ref name="USA.Friend" /> He was released on $100,000 bail (${{Inflation|US|100,000|2013|fmt=c}} in {{Inflation/year|US}} dollars) and placed under house confinement with an [[ankle monitor]].<ref name="Auto9P-6" /> He was convicted on October 28, 2014, on two charges of lying about being in Tsarnaev's dorm room. He later acknowledged that he was in the room while two friends removed a backpack containing potential evidence relating to the bombing.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/29/us/robel-phillipos-friend-of-boston-marathon-bombing-suspect-is-found-guilty.html | title=Robel Phillipos, Friend of Boston Marathon Bombing Suspect, Is Found Guilty | work=The New York Times | date=October 29, 2014 | access-date=October 28, 2014 | agency=Associated Press}}</ref>

Phillipos faced a maximum sentence of eight years' imprisonment on each count.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/29/us/robel-phillipos-friend-of-boston-marathon-bombing-suspect-is-found-guilty.html|title=Boston Bombings Suspect's Friend Convicted of Lying to F.B.I.|last=Williams|first=Timothy|date=October 28, 2014|work=The New York Times|access-date=January 2, 2015}}</ref> In June 2015, [[U.S. District Judge]] [[Douglas P. Woodlock]] sentenced him to three years in prison.<ref>{{cite web|first1=Patricia|last1=Wen|first2=Milton J.|last2=Valencia|first3=John R.|last3=Ellement|first4=Martin|last4=Finucane|url=https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2015/06/05/third-tsarnaev-friend-sentenced-three-years/uX4aySZJrLpBZIBXo9142M/story.html|title=Robel Phillipos sentenced to three years in prison|work=The Boston Globe|date=June 5, 2015}}</ref> Phillipos filed an appeal, but his sentence was upheld in court on February 28, 2017.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.necn.com/news/new-england/Marathon-Bombers-Friend-Robel-Phillipos-Files-Appeal-307148741.html|title=Marathon Bomber's Friend Robel Phillipos Files Appeal|work=NECN|date=June 12, 2015}}</ref>

Phillipos was released from prison in Philadelphia on February 26, 2018, and began serving a three-year probationary period.<ref>{{cite news |author=Staff Writer |url=http://6abc.com/pal-of-boston-marathon-bomber-released-from-philly-re-entry-management-program/3143119/ |title=Pal of Boston Marathon bomber released from Philly re-entry management program |work=[[WPVI-TV]] | publisher=[[Associated Press]] | date=February 26, 2018 |access-date=April 15, 2018 }}</ref>