WORCESTER, Massachusetts: Prosecutors and defense lawyers filed a joint court motion yesterday asking a judge to release one of the friends of the surviving Boston Marathon suspect from federal custody while awaiting trial.
Robel Phillipos, 19, was charged last week with lying to investigators looking into the April 15 bombings. The University of Massachusetts Dartmouth student faces a maximum of eight years in prison if convicted. Authorities say he lied to investigators about visiting Dzhokhar Tsarnaev’s dorm room three days after the bombings.
Both sides said in the court motion that they agree to allow Phillipos to be released under strict conditions, including home confinement and monitoring with an electronic bracelet, along with a $100,000 bond.
A magistrate judge is expected to consider the request during a hearing Monday afternoon.
Tsarnaev’s older brother, Tamerlan, was killed after a gunbattle with police four days after the bombings.
A funeral director trying to find a cemetery to take Tamerlan Tsarnaev’s body pledged to ask the city of Cambridge to allow him to be buried in a city-owned cemetery because the brothers lived in Cambridge for the last decade.
But Cambridge City Manager Robert Healy said he is urging Tsarnaev’s family not to make the request. “The difficult and stressful efforts of the citizens of the City of Cambridge to return to a peaceful life would be adversely impacted by the turmoil, protests, and wide spread media presence at such an interment,” Healy said in a statement Sunday.
Healey said the families who have loved ones interred at the cemetery also deserve to have their deceased family members rest in peace. He said federal agencies should take the lead in the burial.
Worcester funeral director Peter Stefan said hasn’t been able to find a cemetery in Massachusetts willing to accept Tsarnaev’s remains. He said if Cambridge turns him down, he will seek help from state officials. Stefan said Monday that he is looking outside of Massachusetts and does not think Russia will take the body.
