Robel Phillipos Sentenced to Three Years in Prison

By Jeralyn, Section Terror Trials
Posted on Fri Jun 05, 2015 at 04:05:33 PM EST
Tags: Robel Phillipos, Boston Marathon Bombing (all tags)

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Robel Phillipos was sentenced to three years in prison today for his false statements to the FBI after the Boston Marathon bombings. He was ordered to pay a $25,000. fine and spend 1 to 3 years on supervised release after release from prison. He was also ordered to take random drug tests and undergo drug treatment. The judge said, "There’s a price to be paid for the failure of responsibility. There’s a price to be paid to the community."

The Judge granted him a voluntary surrender and did not order him into custody today.

The government had requested Phillipos serve 63 months in prison. My live blog of the hearing (taken from numerous accounts of reporters in the courtroom posted on Twitter -- Hashtag #Phillipos -- as well as my thoughts on why this is too harsh a sentence are below. [More...]

The Sentencing Hearing:

The prosecutor says Robel lied about knowing if Dzhokhar's backpack was taken from dorm room and whether he saw other potential evidence. He also says he lied about deleting information from his personal computer. He compares Robel to Matanov, Dias Kadyrbayev and Azamat Tazhayakov. Under the plea deal with Matanov, Matanov's sentence would be 30 months. The prosecutor says Robel should get more time than Matanov because Matanov went to the police on his own while Robel did not. He says their lies were different and that Robel waited a week before talking.

The judge thinks the terror enhancement applies but is "simply a blunt instrument" and is not helpful in calculating sentence so he will not use it in calculating the sentence.

According to the prosecutor, "this defendant not only fenced with them but he parried their thrusts for days and days." He said Robel was basically playing "rope-a-dope" with investigators. The judge disagreed, saying "I wouldn't call this fencing."

The prosecutor said Robel's lies were calculated to deceive. The judge didn't buy the Government's attempt to cast Robel's lies as more serious than Manatov's lies. He said the differences seemed "incidental" and he was looking for major differences.

The Judge asked the Government, "So why does this defendant fall at 63 months?" It responds that Robel is the least culpable, Dias Kadyrbayev is the most culpable and Azamat Tazhayakov is in the middle. The judge pointed out that Dias Kadyrbayev got 72 months, Azamat Tazhayakov got 42 months, and i