Andrew Dwinells, 30, the former roommate of main Boston marathon bombing suspect Dzhokar Tsarnaev, testified in court during the trial of one of Tsarnaev’s friends on Tuesday. Thus, the memory of the horrific event has once more been brought to public attention – and all the more so, since Dwinells said Tsarnaev appeared absolutely normal in the days following the attacks. The witness did not recall seeing the suspect act in any way out of the ordinary: he was not agitated or nervous, as per the man’s testimony. The trial in question targets one of Tsarnaev’s close friends, who is being accused with obstructing justice in the case of the marathon bombings.
Dwinells said that in the few days that followed the tragedy in April 2013, Tsarnaev acted the exact same way he always did. He slept, he sent numerous text messages off his phone, and he was on his computer most of the time. The former roommate added that the bombing suspect did sleep a bit more than usual, “but that was it”.
The trial in question regards charges brought against two of the alleged bomber’s friends. Azamat Tazhayakov and Dias Kadyrbayev are both facing charges of obstructing justice. Three days after the bombing of the Boston marathon took place, the two men allegedly removed several items from Tsarnaev’s dorm room at the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth. This occurred only a few hours after the FBI posted photos of videos incriminating their friend as a potential suspect in the attacks.
Dwinells’s statement came in response to a line of questioning initiated by Tazhayakov’s lawyers during the cross-examination stage of the trial. The point Tazhayakov’s team of attorneys was trying to make was that, during the days that followed the attacks, none of Tsarnaev’s friends and acquaintances could have suspected he’d been behind the attacks. In other words, no one could have pegged him as a suspect. This suspicion materialized only after the FBI posted pictures of Tsarnaev and identified him as a possible culprit, the defense claims.
According to Dwinells’ testimony, Tsarnaev was relatively reclusive and did not talk or socialize much with him, even though they shared a dorm room. On the evening of April 18, the date the alleged obstruction of justice took place, according to the prosecutors, three of Tsarnaev’s friends, including Tazhayakov and Kadyrbayev, came over to the room and removed some items. They did so after receiving a text message from Tsarnaev (sent to Kadyrbayev), in which the former said they were free to “take what’s there”. The only item removed by Kadyrbayev, according to Dwinells, was a small bag of pot from a desk drawer. The other two men spent the whole time watching TV, he said.
