Robel Phillipos, 21, of Cambridge, was convicted Tuesday of lying to the FBI during the bombing investigation, specifically about being present in Tsarnaev's dorm room when two other friends removed a backpack containing fireworks and other potentially incriminating evidence, according to Boston.com.
The jury deliberated for more than 35 hours over six days before finding Phillipos not guilty of telling four of the nine lies he was accused of by prosecutors, according to Reuters.
His lawyers had argued that Phillipos was intimidated when he was questioned by the FBI and that he had smoked so much marijuana that his memory was clouded, Boston.com reported.
The jury found Phillipos guilty of lying in statements he made about visiting the dorm room and of lying about the taking of the backpack, and they also found lies were told in the context of a terrorism investigation, which could lead to a longer sentence, Reuters reported.
Even so, the jury found Phillipos not guilty of making several other statements the government charged were false, including that he did not see anyone taking a backpack from the dorm room, according to Boston.com.
Massachusetts United States Attorney Carmen Ortiz said her office is "really gratified with the jury's verdict." Reuters reported.
Ortiz added that while thousands of people helped authorities after the bombings, "Today a federal jury concluded that Robel Phillipos did just the opposite. He lied to agents when he could have helped. He concealed when he could have assisted," according to Reuters.
Former federal prosecutor and now a defense attorney for McDermott Will & Emery in Boston Mark Pearlstein said Phillipos' attorneys played a good angle using the marijuana defense to explain his actions and raise doubts, but he said that defense might not be appropriate for an older suspect, Reuters reported.
