Terrorist Attack at Boston Marathon #12

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http://www.boston.com/news/local/ma...arnaev-case/njxr41Qkc2YjsaaI1jLI8K/story.html

A jury returned a split verdict today in the trial of Azamat Tazhayakov, friend of alleged Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. Tazhayakov was found guilty on two of four counts of obstructing justice, both in regards to the removal of Tsarnaev’s backpack. He was found not guilty of conspiring to obstruct justice and obstruction of justice with regards to the removal of Tsarnaev’s laptop.

 

[i.b.nora]

And, The New York Times article:

Guilty Verdict in First Boston Marathon Bombing Trial
NYTimes
By JESS BIDGOODJULY 21, 2014

"The defendant, Azamat Tazhayakov, 20, was found guilty of conspiracy and obstruction of justice in what will be a series of trials leading up to Mr. Tsarnaev’s day in court, which is scheduled for the fall. With each trial, Boston faces yet another reckoning with the events of April 15, 2013, when two homemade bombs killed three people and injured more than 260 others, some of them severely.

Mr. Tsarnaev’s defense team has argued that the prosecution of minor figures in advance of his November trial is a ploy by the government to maintain a steady drumbeat of reminders about the bombings."

•

"The jury found Mr. Tazhayakov guilty in connection with the removal of the backpack, but not the laptop."

•

"A defense lawyer representing Mr. Tazhayakov, Matthew Myers, said assertions like that one were “completely unsupported,” and called into question the reliability of the F.B.I. agents’ testimony, when their conversations with Ms. Tazhayakov had not been recorded."
​

More…

I personally think it is time for the FBI to start recording their 'conversations' with people. JMO.

 

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Stephen Silva, who also enrolled at the same university as Tsarnaev, was arrested this week on charges of heroin trafficking and possession of a handgun with an obliterated serial number. The gun was used to kill Massachusetts Institute of Technology police Officer Sean Collier while the Tsarnaevs were being sought, according to two people with knowledge of the case who spoke to The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to discuss the investigation.

...Silva was arrested on marijuana charges at a train station in the Dorchester neighborhood in November. After transit police found two bags of marijuana and a wad of $555 in cash in his pockets, he repeatedly told them, "I smoke a lot of weed every day because my best friend was the bomber," court documents say.

...According to the indictment, Silva received the gun in or around February 2013. It said the gun "had the importer's and manufacturer's serial number removed, obliterated, and altered and had previously been shipped and transported in interstate and foreign commerce."

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/...BlitzRss&utm_campaign=usatoday-newstopstories

 

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The indictment also alleges that Silva conspired to distribute heroin this summer in the Boston area.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/07/23/stephen-silva_n_5612753.html

 

[i.b.nora]

Twins named Stephen and Steven.

"Hinson said Silva and his twin brother, Steven Silva, initially enrolled at the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth, where Tsarnaev went, but the twins eventually transferred to the UMass campus in Boston.

"Steven was the pretty boy," Hinson said. "Stephen was sort of the laid-back one."

Cordelia van Heeckeren, who lives on the floor of the Cambridge high-rise apartment building where the Silva twins lived with their parents, said she was stunned when she saw FBI agents with hacksaws preparing to enter the Silvas' apartment Monday. She said the twins seemed to have a regular group of friends and were generally well-behaved."​

I guess the twins names are pronounced differently.

The Daily Mail shows a photo of the apartment buiding where the twins live and points out that it is across the street from the gas station where the Tsarnaevs stopped with the anonymous guy whose car they high-jacked and where he escaped from the car and ran across the street to another store and called police. I think that was right after the shooting at MIT and just before the shootout in Watertown.

The Daily Mail article is here with pictures:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2702420/Man-linked-gun-said-bomber-best-friend.html

 

[time]

Twins named Stephen and Steven.

No wonder I was confused! I just thought I had a headache interferring That and I couldn't figure out who tried to obliterate the gun's serial number... is that clear to anyone else? I guess the guy hadn't had the gun very long either.

Wondering, did the Tsarnaev's go to his apartment and get the gun between the bombings and the carjacking?

 

[i.b.nora]

So far, its somewhat confusing to me as well. We really only have that one AP article to go from. But, I think the gun came into Silva's possession with the serial number wiped out.

 

[i.b.nora]

I just knew I should have read the Boston Globe article before now. It helps to clarify somewhat.

Pistol in gun charge case similar to one that killed MIT officer
Close friend of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev charged
By Patricia Wen and Milton J. Valencia | GLOBE STAFF JULY 22, 2014

"According to a Los Angeles Times article published in May, investigators were ultimately able to discern the gun’s serial number, even though attempts had been made to obliterate it.

Based on that, authorities traced the gun’s original purchase to a store near Portland, Maine, and to two people with alleged criminal ties. The article did not explain how authorities believe that the gun got from Maine to the Tsarnaev brothers in Massachusetts."​

And

"Stephen Silva’s twin brother, who has a very similar name, Steven Silva, is widely identified as one of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev’s closest childhood friends, and the pair attended Cambridge Rindge and Latin and the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth together. The twins apparently both attended the University of Massachusetts Boston in the past year.

Steven Silva was also close friends with three UMass Dartmouth friends of Tsarnaev: Dias Kadyrbayev and Azamat Tazhayakov, who are charged in federal court with interfering with the bombing investigation, and Robel Phillipos, who is charged with lying to investigators."

"The Silvas and Phillipos grew up in the same apartment complex in Cambridge."​

 

[i.b.nora]

And, a little more clarification:

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's 'Best Friend' Did Drugs to Cope with Link to Bombs

WPRO News Talk Radio (ABC News)
2:35PM Thursday July 24, 2014

"In a run-in with authorities on the Fourth of July in 2012, cops reported a Steven Silva -- rather than Stephen -- and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev were discovered together drinking alcohol in a Honda registered to Dzhokhar. Stephen Silva has an identical twin brother named Steven, sources said, but police believe that it was really Stephen in the car with the younger Tsarnaev. The November 2013 police report also had the offender listed as Steven, but fingerprints taken after his arrest identified him as Stephen Silva, the same man arraigned in federal court Tuesday, law enforcement sources said.

Stephen Silva said in court Tuesday he lives with his mother and stepfather, and added that his brother "moved away" and works as a car salesman. State and federal sources said Steven and Dzhokhar knew each other but were not friends."

 

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In November 2013, Silva was arrested and charged with possession with intent to distribute marijuana.

According to the police affidavit, "Silva continuously stated, 'I smoke a lot of weed every day because my best friend was the bomber.'"
Police said they questioned Silva after noticing a strong odor of marijuana every time he walked by, and they say he told them he had a small amount in his backpack.

They say Silva agreed to let the officers look in his bag and search him. Police say he had marijuana as well as $555 and a list of names of people who bought drugs from him.

Silva and his twin brother, whose name is also Steven, were friends with Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, according to associates. They were in the same class at Cambridge Rindge and Latin School, and they worked together as lifeguards at Harvard University's Blodgett Pool.

Silva was charged Tuesday in a federal indictment with heroin distribution and possession of a firearm with an obliterated serial number, a Ruger model 95 9mm pistol.

Even though the serial number on the gun was obliterated, sources told Team 5 that investigators were able to raise the number from the gun and trace it.

http://www.wcvb.com/news/i-smoke-weed-because-my-friend-is-bomber-tsarnaev-friend-says/27108614

I guess the guy was too stoned to realize he was wafting a tad bit of 420 odor with each passing!

But, has anyone answered how he got the gun back?

 

[i.b.nora]

He didn't get the gun back (I don't think). My understanding is that it was recovered at the scene of the Watertown shootout. From there it was linked to the MIT killing and the FBI further traced the gun to someone in Maine. Some unkown person must have told the FBI that the Tsarnaevs got it from Silva.

 

[i.b.nora]

The WCVB article doesn't make any sense to me regarding the gun. However, I did find this bolded tidbit interesting:

"Silva and his twin brother, whose name is also Steven, were friends with Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, according to associates. They were in the same class at Cambridge Rindge and Latin School, and they worked together as lifeguards at Harvard University's Blodgett Pool."

 

[time]

He didn't get the gun back (I don't think). My understanding is that it was recovered at the scene of the Watertown shootout. From there it was linked to the MIT killing and the FBI further traced the gun to someone in Maine. Some unkown person must have told the FBI that the Tsarnaevs got it from Silva.

Oh, I guess that makes sense.

 

[i.b.nora]

Boston Marathon bomb suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's lawyers seek leaks hearing
By The Associated Press*
on July 25, 2014 at 3:46 PM, updated July 25, 2014 at 3:50 PM

BOSTON (AP) — Lawyers for Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev have renewed their request for a judge to hold a hearing on leaks to the news media.
...

The request came after several news outlets this week reported that investigators believe a friend of Tsarnaev provided the gun authorities say was used by Tsarnaev and his brother in the fatal shooting of an MIT police officer several days after the bombings.

More...

 

[i.b.nora]

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev lawyers demand investigation of news leaks

The Boston Globe
By John R. Ellement | GLOBE STAFF JULY 25, 2014

"Lawyers for accused Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokar Tsarnaev Friday demanded that a federal judge investigate the anonymous sources behind the news reports that a Cambridge man allegedly supplied Tsarnaev with the gun used to kill MIT police Officer Sean Collier."

*

"Court papers in the Silva case said only that he was allegedly in possession of a Ruger P95 9mm handgun with an obliterated serial number in February 2013 and did not refer to Tsarnaev or the bombings of April 15, 2013.

“As these almost instantaneous leaks of sensitive investigative information demonstrate, members of law enforcement apparently feel free to ignore the court’s admonition to refrain from discussing the investigation in the media, including trying to marshal the evidence against Mr. Tsarnaev,’’ the defense wrote."​

I am back to being somewhat confused and have no idea if Silva had a gun, didn't have a gun, much less gave it to the Tsarnaevs.

 

[jezhead]

Federal prosecutors and lawyers for Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev argued on Thursday over how much evidence each side needs to disclose to the other ahead of his trial for the deadly attack.

Tsarnaev is awaiting trial on charges of killing three people and injuring more than 260 in the April 15, 2013, bombing and fatally shooting a police officer three days later. He faces the threat of execution if convicted and prosecutors argued they deserve early notice of what experts the defense plans if there is a sentencing hearing.

"Federal criminal trials should not be waged by surprise," Assistant U.S. Attorney William Weinreb said at a pre-trial hearing at U.S. District Court in Boston. "Each side is supposed to have notice, generally, of what the other side is trying to prove."

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/sns-rt-us-usa-explosions-boston-20140808-story.html

 

[Elley Mae]

Friend of Boston Marathon bombing suspect expected to change plea to guilty

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2014/08/2...d-to-change-plea-to-guilty/?intcmp=latestnews

 

[redheadedgal]

boston bombers' sister threatens to bomb boyfriend's ex, charged on multiple counts

http://news.nationalpost.com/2014/0...mbing-suspect-charged-with-threatening-woman/
http://news.yahoo.com/sister-accused-boston-marathon-bombers-arrested-bomb-threat-004616079.html
http://nypost.com/2014/08/27/boston-bombers-sister-in-custody-on-reported-bomb-threat/
http://www.nj.com/hudson/index.ssf/...suspects_sister_charged_with_bomb_threat.html

 

[newone]

boston bombers' sister threatens to bomb boyfriend's ex, charged on multiple counts

http://news.nationalpost.com/2014/0...mbing-suspect-charged-with-threatening-woman/
http://news.yahoo.com/sister-accused-boston-marathon-bombers-arrested-bomb-threat-004616079.html
http://nypost.com/2014/08/27/boston-bombers-sister-in-custody-on-reported-bomb-threat/
http://www.nj.com/hudson/index.ssf/...suspects_sister_charged_with_bomb_threat.html

I know it's not funny but I was laughing too hard earlier today when I read the news story about his sister. What a family. I am sure this is not helping matters at all. MOO

 

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Well, that was not very smart of her