The lawyers for Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev are requesting to receive government documents that link his deceased older brother, Tamerlan, to a 2011 triple homicide, The Los Angeles Times reported.
Tamerlan, who died during an escape from authorities with his younger brother, Dzhokhar, was recently connected to an unsolved triple homicide that happened on September 11, 2011 -- the tenth anniversary of 9/11.
The murder of the three men -- Brendan Mess, 25, Erik Weissman, 31, and Raphael Teken, 37 -- had their throats slit and bodies covered in marijuana, leaving officials baffled until a friend, Ibragim Todashev, spoke with authorities.
Todashev met with the FBI and state police in May and apparently gave them information that led them to believe Tsarnaev was involved in the 2011 murders, which unnamed sources had also alleged previously. However, he was shot during questioning with authorities and his family has yet to receive an answer on why.
Civil rights groups and Todashev's father have been demanding an explanation for months. In addition, The Council on American-Islamic Relations released a picture of his dead body, shot seven times including once in the head.
"The government has already disclosed to Tsarnaev, that, according to Todashev, Tamerlan Tsarnaev participated in the Waltham triple homicide," a court document said, issued so Dzhokhar's lawyers cannot obtain certain files from the government.
"Any benefit to Tsarnaev of knowing more about the precise 'nature and extent' of his brother's involvement does not outweigh the potential harm of exposing details of an ongoing investigation into an extremely serious crime, especially at this stage of the proceeding," prosecutors added.
However, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's lawyers are trying to get a hold of the documents that say his elder brother was responsible for the triple homicide in addition to any information about interviews with their family and friends.
Additionally, one of his friends was deported and his girlfriend was questioned too.
