Friends of alleged Marathon bomber given separate trialsBy Patricia Wen and John R. Ellement
Globe Staff May 13, 2014
Dias Kadyrbayev, one of the three friends of accused Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev who are facing federal charges, has agreed to take the stand in federal court in Boston to testify about why some evidence should be thrown out of his case.
Kadyrbayev is the only one of the three defendants who accepted US District Court Judge Douglas P. Woodlock’s demand that they testify in order for him to decide whether to grant their motions to suppress evidence.
The hearing is under way this afternoon. Veteran FBI Special Agent John Walker has started describing his involvement in the investigation of the April 15, 2013, Marathon bombings, which killed three people and wounded more than 260 others.
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Earlier today, Woodlock told all three defendants and their lawyers that affidavits they had filed with their motions to suppress were “illusory’’ and that he needed to hear from the defendants themselves before he could rule on their requests.
The defense attorneys for Tazhayakov and Phillipos told the judge they did not believe live testimony from their clients was needed under the law and refused to allow them to take the stand.
Also today, Woodlock ordered that the three men be tried separately. Woodlock set trial dates for Tazhayakaov, Kadyrbayev, and Phillipos on June 30, Sept. 8, and Sept. 29, respectively.
Woodlock set the trial dates after refusing a defense request that he throw out the charges against the men, all of whom attended the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth with Tsarnaev. Phillipos also knew Tsarnaev from Cambridge where they both grew up.
The judge also refused to move the trials out of Massachusetts or even out of Boston, telling the defense lawyers he believed the key to a fair trial for the three men is not where the jurors live, but who is finally selected.
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