Boston Bomber’s Friend Jailed for 6 Years for Concealing Evidence

Nearly three weeks after a federal jury condemned Boston Marathon bomber Dzokhar Tsarnaev to death, the first of three friends currently on trial in connection with the bombing has been sentenced to six years in jail.

Dias Kadyrbayev, a 21-year-old Kazakhstan native, pled guilty last year to charges of conspiracy and obstruction of justice, the Associated Press reports, after admitting that he removed key evidence from Tsarnaev’s dorm room when he recognized his friend in images released by the FBI on April 18, 2013, three days after the bombing.

The evidence included Tsarnaev’s computer and a backpack of fireworks emptied of their explosive powder—which, prosecutors argued, could have helped prevent additional violence that ensued in the days following the April 15th bombing. MIT police Officer Sean Collier was killed in an April 18 shooting, leading to a firefight in the early morning of the 19th in which Tsarnaev’s brother and alleged co-conspirator Tamerlan was killed. The bombing also killed three and injured more than 260 runners and spectators situated near the race’s finish line.

Kadyrbayev, who had faced up to seven years in prison, apologized to these victims and their families before his sentencing on Tuesday, saying, “I can’t believe that I acted so stupidly.” He will be deported to Kazakhstan at the end of his prison sentence.

Two other college friends of Tsarnaev who accompanied Kadyrbayev to the suspect’s dormroom are expected to be sentenced on Friday.

[AP]