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Robel Phillipos: Guilty Verdict on Five of Nine Alleged Statements

Robel Phillipos has been found guilty of making five of the nine false statements alleged in the Indictment. The jury found he lied about both false statements charged in Count 1 and three of the nine statements charged in Count 2. He will remain on bond and house arrest through sentencing.

Shorter version: He did not lie about what he saw or heard in the dorm room. He lied about not being in the dorm room at all, and learning afterwards that his friends had taken the backpack from the dorm room. He did not lie when he denied discussing get rid of the backpack with his friends. The jury rejected the FBI's "written confession" by Robel. [More...]

Here's a breakdown of which statements the jury found were false, and which it found not to be false. For a full description of the charges, jury instructions, verdict form and penalty, see my post from October 24, 4th Day of Jury Deliberations in Robel Phillipos Trial

Guilty:

Count 1: April 20, 2013:

(1) he did not remember going to Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's dormitory room on the evening of April 18, 2013; and

(2) he returned to the door of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev' s dorm room on the evening of April 18, 2013 at approximately 10:00 p.m. with Kadyrbayev and Tazhayakov (PHILLIPOS admitted that he had gone to Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's dormitory room earlier in the afternoon), but no one entered the dormitory room.

Count 2: April 25, 2013:

1) he only entered Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's dormitory room on one occasion on April 18, 2013, which was sometime in the afternoon when he spoke to Dzhokhar Tsarnaev for approximately ten minutes;

5) neither he, Kadyrbayev, or Tazhayakov took a backpack from Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's dormitory room on the evening of April 18, 2013;

(6) he was not aware of Kadyrbayev or Tazhayakov removing anything from Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's dormitory room on the evening of April 18, 2013; and

Not Guilty:

Count 2:

(2) he did not observe anyone take a backpack out of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev' s dormitory room on April 18, 2013;

(3) he did not see a backpack inside Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's dormitory room on the evening of April 18, 2013;

(4) he did not see any fireworks inside Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's dormitory room on the evening of April 18, 2013;

(7) he did not engage in any conversation with Kadyrbayev and Tazhayakov regarding plans to discard in the trash a backpack, which had been taken from Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's room on the evening of April 18, 2013.

My take: The jury found he did not lie when he told police on April 25 that he did not personally observe the backpack or the fireworks in Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's dorm room, or see anyone remove the backpack from the dorm room. But it found that days later, when questioned about what happened on the night of the 18th, his statements at that time that neither he, Dias or Azamat removed the backpack and that he wasn't aware the backpack had been removed from the dorm room were false.

The statements the jury found not to be false are the statements in the Robel's "written confession" -- which was typed by the FBI and signed by Robel. You can read it here.

That's a big deal. The written confession states that contrary to his earlier denials, Robel did see Dias going through the backpack in the dorm room, saw the fireworks in it, saw Dias carrying the backpack when leaving the dorm room, discussed getting rid of the back pack with Dias and Azamat, and told Dias, "Do what you have to do."

But the jury found Robel's statements that he did not see the backpack in the dorm room, did not see fireworks in the dorm room and did not discuss getting rid of the backpack with Azamat or Dias were not false statements. This means it discredited the written confession.

It seems to me the jury accepted his "too stoned to remember" defense with respect to what transpired inside the dorm room on April 18. It just didn't buy that he was so stoned he didn't being inside the dorm room at all that night. (On the 20th, he first told police he didn't go to dorm room that night, and then told them they went to the dorm room but that no one was there so they didn't go in.) No matter how stoned he was he would have remembered being inside the dorm room.

By finding him not guilty of making false statements as to what he observed inside the dorm room, the jury either accepted he was too stoned to remember what he saw inside the room, or found that never saw those things at all.

It was the next morning, after waking up at Azamat and Dias' apartment, that Robel learned they had taken the backpack. The jury found he would not still be so stoned by the next morning that he wouldn't later recall this. So on the 25th, when he still denied knowing that Dias or Azamat had removed the backpack from the dorm room, those statements were lies.

The U.S. Attorney says the jury got the verdict "exactly right." If so, then the jury was right, in her opinion, in rejecting the written confession, and a large part of their case: that Robel saw the backpack being taken from the dorm room and the fireworks inside it, and discussed getting rid of the backpack with Dias and Azamat.

Bottom line: The only things Robel lied about, according to the jury, was being in the dorm room at all and learning before the 25th that either Dias or Azamat had removed the backpack from the dorm room. He did not participate in discussions about getting rid of the back pack. Clearly, that doesn't warrant even close to an 8 or 16 year sentence. I hope he gets probation. The felony conviction, which will stay on his record forever, is more than enough punishment.

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  • Display: Sort:
    As you know, (5.00 / 1) (#1)
    by Reconstructionist on Tue Oct 28, 2014 at 03:46:24 PM EST
      the jury was not asked to and did not  not make findings that the defendant  did not make false statements, or possess the   requisite state of mind if the statements were made.  We don't do things that way in this system.

    Juries  only make findings of guilty or not guilty based upon whether the prosecution met its burden of proving the  essential elements upon beyond a reasonable doubt.

    while a finding of guilt necessarily shows the jury must have believed acts were committed with the requisite criminal intent, a finding of not guilty does not necessarily mean the opposite.

     

    My head hurts (5.00 / 1) (#2)
    by Peter G on Tue Oct 28, 2014 at 04:42:14 PM EST
    The prosecutor said that the jury "got it exactly right" by rejecting four of her nine contentions?  Why did she advance the other four then?  What part of "exactly" am I misunderstanding?

    the part (5.00 / 2) (#3)
    by Reconstructionist on Tue Oct 28, 2014 at 04:44:13 PM EST
      that is an equally transparent attempt at spin as this post.

    Parent
    this "justice" does not make (5.00 / 2) (#4)
    by ZtoA on Wed Oct 29, 2014 at 01:30:23 AM EST
    any common sense at all !  I heard on NPR that he faces 19 years in jail. That is outrageous! Jail time for this kid??