Boston Bombing Suspect's Friend Convicted of Hampering Investigation

BOSTON (AP) -- A college friend of Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev (joh-HAHR' tsahr-NEYE'-ehv) has been convicted of impeding the investigation into the attack.

This May 13, 2014 file courtroom sketch shows defendant Azamat Tazhayakov during a hearing in federal court in Boston. Tazhayakov, of Kazakhstan, is accused with another friend of removing items from Tsarnaev's dorm room, but is not charged with participating in the bombing or knowing about it in advance. (AP Photo/Jane Flavell Collins, File)

Azamat Tazhayakov (AZ'-maht tuh-ZAY'-uh-kahv) was found guilty Monday of obstruction of justice and conspiracy. Prosecutors say he agreed with a friend who removed Tsarnaev's backpack from his dorm room several days after the 2013 bombing. The backpack contained altered fireworks.

Tazhayakov's lawyers argued that the other friend removed the items from the dorm room at the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth and then threw them away.

Prosecutors told the jury that both men shared in the decision to get rid of the items to protect Tsarnaev. The friend, Dias Kadyrbayev (DY'-us kah-dur-BY'-ehv), faces a separate trial in September.