Trial Set for Khairullozhon Matanov

July 24, 2014 by TMO 

On Friday, July 18 at the federal courthouse in Boston, the initial status conference hearing took place for Khairullozhon Matanov, the cab driver from Kyrgyzstan who had dinner with the Tsarnaev brothers the evening after the Boston Marathon bombing in April 2013. He is accused of lying to the FBI and deleting google searches from his computer in order to downplay his friendship with the brothers, after he went to the police to identify them. He is not accused of having any information about the bombing.

Matanov is represented by Attorney Edward Hayden while the government prosecutor is Scott Garland, the attorney whose overzealous tactics are believed to have caused MIT hacker Aaron Schwartz to commit suicide. Judge William Young is now presiding over the court. The previous judge, Marianne Bowler, for some reason does not want the case. Matanov, who is being kept in solitary confinement, is still waiting for Bowler to make a decision regarding his release on bail.

The hearing was very brief and there were few people in the courtroom.

When the judge asked Garland about sentencing guidelines, the prosecutor replied that with terrorism enhancements, Matanov would be facing up to 15 years if convicted. In the previous hearing, the government had asked for a sentence of 44 years; so possibly the public concern over prosecutorial overreach made a difference.

Garland proposed a tentative trial date on June 8, 2015, saying that he wanted to make sure Hayden had plenty of time to review the discovery material. Hayden said that this seemed “reasonable” and accepted Garland’s word “on good faith” that he would need nearly a year to prepare for this case. Judge Young intervened to suggest that the trial date could be moved closer at Hayden’s request.

Hayden had asked the court to employ Matanov’s previous attorney, Paul Glickman, as co-counsel, arguing that Matanov is “in a stressful situation.”

“Because Mr. Matanov is a very scared young man, thousands of miles away from his family members and facing serious criminal charges that may result in his exclusion from the United States, I believe that the trusting attorney-client relationship I have built with Mr. Matanov is critical to an adequate defense of this case,” Glickman said in an affidavit filed in court. The judge refused to appoint Glickman but ruled that he is to be paid a $2,500 consulting fee to assist Hayden.

It is easy to understand why Matanov might be frustrated with Hayden, who is an overworked public defender without much understanding about Islam, or possibly even the recent history of treacherousness government prosecutions of Muslims. He is definitely hopelessly naive about talking to the press, something he had already been warned about by Judge Bowler.

After the 20 minute hearing, Hayden stood outside the courtroom chatting with reporters, one of whom, Michelle McPhee, encouraged him to leak some information about what was in the pile of prosecution documents. He replied that he did not yet have time to review the discovery and could not say anything, but in order to make McPhee happy he mentioned that he looked at a random page of the foot high pile of paper and saw the photograph “with the flag.”

There have already been media leaks regarding a photo of Matanov and Tamerlan Tsarnaev taken at a mosque, in front of a black flag with Shahada written on it. McPhee quipped to Hayden that this was like posing in front of a swastika, and Hayden just smiled at her. Luckily, this author was present to straighten them out regarding the meaning of the flag, explaining that it was far more like going to a church and posing in front of a cross.

Matanov’s situation is an unusual case because the FBI used a drone to circle around his apartment building on numerous occasions and employed 3 to 4 FBI agents to follow him around in unmarked vehicles wherever he went, 24 hours a day for one year. This incredible taxpayer expense resulted in not one single alarming activity being detected other than charitable wire transfers to his family overseas.

A former client of Matanov told TMO that the young man “is a kind, considerate, wonderful young man who expressed that he loved it here and wanted to earn enough money to ‘bring his parents over.’ He expressed his love of little babies and hugging them and that they were ‘a blessing’ … not the sentiments of a dangerous person. My impression was that he would be a fabulous husband and father.”

While in prison, Matanov was asked by the FBI to spy on “terrorists.” He was also told that if he were to plead guilty, his sentence could be reduced to under 7 years.

Tsarnaev and Friends: Boston Legal Updates

TMO 

Judge Strikes Down “Betraying America” Charge as Inflammatory

US District Judge George A. O’Toole Jr. at the John Joseph Moakley Courthouse.

A pre-trial hearing for Dzhokhar Tsarnaev took place on June 18, 2014. For the most part, there has been no progress in the Dzhokhar Tsarnaev case. SAMs are still in place, including an FBI agent taking notes on every prison visit involving attorneys and family together. At the same time the US government has not yet handed over the GPS of the Tsarnaev vehicle involved in the police chase to the defense. The government is still insisting on total control over the narrative that gets released to the public. The judge declined to penalize the government over media leaks.

However, Judge O’Toole did step in once, telling the US prosecutors that their charge of “Betraying America” was “obnoxious.”

“I agree with the defense position that it was unduly prejudicial,” O’Toole said.

Nevertheless, the prosecution will continue to use “He was comforting our enemies” as their main argument in the trial. It appears that pushing the issue of Tsarnaev’s interest in Islamic causes will be central to their case of explaining his motive, which will be the core of the government case for death penalty.

Azamat Tazhayakov Rejects Plea Deal

Tazhayakov’s lawyer, Matthew Myers, told reporters after a pretrial hearing on June 23, 2014 that prosecutors offered him a deal to plead to reduced charges but he turned it down. Myers would not disclose the terms of the offer.

“He knows he’s not guilty,” Myers said of Tazhayakov. “He’s confident.”

Nicholas Wooldridge, another lawyer representing Tazhayakov, said the defense is hopeful of finding an impartial jury.

“Even the average juror in Boston will be shocked by the lack of evidence,” he said.

At least 600 potential jurors for Tazhayakov’s case will be given screening questionnaires to fill out, in a defense attempt to weed out people with anti-Muslim prejudice and other factors. The final version of the questionnaire will be agreed upon by both sides.

Defense lawyers argued Monday that Tazhayakov and many other university students have been unfairly targeted because of guilt by association.

Federal prosecutors are facing the possibility that if the statements he made to the FBI while detained but not quite arrested were a result of intimidation, they could be thrown out of court and the entire case could be dismissed.

Khairullozhon Matanov Denied Bail

Judge Marianne Bowler arrived ten minutes late and then began a hearing for a young man from Kyrgyzstan on June 23, 2014 at 2:30pm with the words: “Well, Mr. Hayden, we are here at your request.”
Hayden’s client, Khair Matanov was the Quincy cab driver and friend of the Tsarnaevs who is accused of lying to the government about whether he drove his friends to the restaurant or if he met them at the restaurant.

At the last hearing, his government appointed attorney said “no contest” to incarceration due to his client being jobless and having nowhere to go. However, since more than one person offered their home to Matanov the lawyer actually then  went out of his way to look into the possibility. Hayden even found a job lead for the young man.

“Usually people have friends or family in the area, but [Matanov] didn’t have that resource, so it was up to me,” Hayden said.

Hayden argued that his client cooperated with FBI over extended period and met with them five times. The government watched his every move for one year and still haven’t found him doing anything terrorism related.

The government was forced to concede that Matanov is not “dangerous.” This is huge. The government only argued that he was a flight risk because he had so many relatives overseas. They further argued that because he worked 15-18 hours a day and sent all his money to his family, including paying for his brother’s heart surgery, this means there are many people who owe him a favor and would therefore harbor him. On this basis, Judge Bowler ruled in favor of his further detainment as a flight risk.

Even though bail was denied, this hearing was a very successful maneuver because it presented the defense with an opportunity to clarify in more detail about the money wire transfers and phones and the defense alibis. In the previous hearing, the FBI testimony dominated, but in this hearing, the defense did most of the talking. Khair’s alibi sounds reasonable. He sent money under a false name for tax purposes, but the money was earned legally. He sent $6500 to his grandfather, and even helped out a friend in Virginia who had lost his job.

To which Bowler responded, “before or after tax?” regarding the $71,000 total.

Hayden clarified beyond the shadow of a doubt that the government was was making innuendos regarding the money transfers being related to terrorism.

Hayden then argued that Matanov does not deserve to be locked up in solitary confinement for selling cell phones to Russia. Matanov regularly sold cell phones to Russia. The government admitted that the cell phones were not used for any terrorism related activity.

Matanov was the first person to go to the police to identify the Tsarnaevs after the FBI sent out their alert, according to the defense.

Another Tsarnaev Friend Ensnared: Todashev Relative Offers Home

TMO 

On June 4, TMO attended a bail hearing in front of Judge Marianne Bowler for Khairullozhan Matanov, 23. The young man, clad in orange, looked exhausted. He put his hands over his face, leaning on the table briefly before the hearing began. No friends or family were there.

“He was shaking and looked like he had just finished crying,” described court observer, Jill, who attended his first hearing.

Matanov, a friend of Boston Marathon bombing suspects Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, is facing decades in prison for allegedly lying to the FBI and deleting files off his computer.

Matanov’s “lies” to the FBI were completely unrelated to the bombing. They included things like whether or not he drove the brothers to a restaurant or if they walked in, whether or not he ever watched movies on his computer, and if he had seen the photos of the brothers on TV or heard the the news on the radio, before he personally went to the police to identify them.

The FBI already knew who the brothers were. They had Tamerlan’s house under surveillance. The photos were intended to ensnare friends of the Tsarnaevs into becoming informants. Matanov believed his friends were innocent and had nothing of interest to tell the FBI beyond that he liked to play soccer with them.

As a result, the government is now accusing Matanov of the absurd, including: “hiking up a New Hampshire mountain in order to train like, and praise the mujahideen.”
Matanov’s computer deletions were easily recovered by the authorities after he gave them permission to search his computer – “saving them the time of having to get a search warrant,” Attorney Hayden quipped.

Yet prosecutors say Matanov “obstructed the FBI’s investigation of the bombings and the suspected bombers, and have caused the FBI to expend considerable additional resources during its investigation of the bombings and the suspected bombers.”

The files Matanov deleted were all public information that provided no additional clues whatsoever into the bombing. The FBI has been wasting ungodly amounts of money over the past year to spy on him. A large unmanned aircraft was spotted circling around his home. Several FBI agents were employed full time to follow him around in cars and to keep him in sight at all times around the clock, even following him into a dental office. Matanov’s needless incarceration continues at taxpayer expense.

Former prosecutor Matt Connolly writes in the Milford Daily News: “Matanov was exercising his right not to incriminate himself… All he did was try to distance himself from the Tsarnaevs thinking that his close connection with them would get him into trouble. If you know nothing about the crime being investigated you can’t obstruct it.”

Actually, the government indictment, which claims that Matanov hid his close relationship with the Tsarnaevs from the FBI seriously conflicts with the actual transcripts of police and FBI interviews with the defendant. Matanov’s lawyer made extensive use of these transcripts during the cross-examination of FBI Agent Timothy McElroy to demonstrate that Matanov immediately told the FBI everything he knew.

“I can’t imagine that they did it but I am willing to help,” the transcript reads.

According to his first FBI interview report dated 4/20, Matanov said that he saw and called Tamerlan often. Tamerlan drove Matanov to get his drivers license. Matanov told the FBI he often invited the brothers to Manasawa Restaurant, went to Tamerlan’s house, met his parents and skyped with Tamerlan when he went to Dagestan.

The indictment claims that Matanov told police detective Heslam he didn’t know whether Tamerlan lived with his wife and daughter. However, Heslam never asked about this.
According to the actual transcript, Matanov told the FBI he saw no one in Tamerlan’s apartment other than his wife and daughter.

The indictment accuses him of changing stories regarding whether or not he visited Tamerlan the Wednesday after the bombing. He admitted going to Tamerlan’s house during his first FBI interview. He didn’t withhold any information. The government allegation is referring to comments Matanov made to his roommate as well as a passenger in his taxicab, telling them he had not visited Tamerlan “in a while” and downplaying the relationship. He was not talking to the FBI. The FBI later talked to his roommate.

A Boston Globe editorial states, “Matanov charges look like a vindictive overreach.”

The hearing mainly focused on wire transfers Matanov made overseas. He appears to have been working very hard as a taxi driver to send money to his family. He sent money to 15 people in 6 different countries, sometimes using an alias. He also asked a friend to dispose of some cell phones. His lawyer, Edward Hayden, argued that Matanov was operating an illegal business sending stolen cell phones overseas. Neither the phones nor the wire transfers had anything to do with terrorism.

FBI Agent McElroy testified that he has no knowledge of anything on phones having to do with terrorism.

US prosecutor Scott Garland argued against granting Matanov bail, saying he was a “huge flight risk.” He speaks seven languages and has ties in six different countries. He has no reason to stay in the US – no family, no job, no property. He faces 20 years for obstruction of justice and eight years for each lie. He is likely to be deported after time served. “His only assurance would be his promise,” and the US alleges that he “repeatedly deceived authorities.”

Defense attorney Hayden then requested “voluntary incarceration” of his client, saying “there is no place for him to go.” Judge Bowler said if this changes, they could “revisit the issue.” She then asked if Matanov was ready to be arraigned.

As he stood to hear the charges read against him, Matanov gripped the table. He whimpered, “Not guilty” very quietly and was told to speak up. He repeated “Not guilty” to all the charges against him in a louder voice. The judge than warned Hayden to “be cautious regarding public statements,” alluding to a previous press conference. Matanov’s next hearing is scheduled for July 15 at 2pm. Matanov looked emotionally broken as US Marshalls shackled and handcuffed him.

Upon hearing the news of this “voluntary incarceration,” Elena Teyer, mother-in-law of Ibrahim Todashev, the friend of Tamerlan Tsarnaev who was murdered in his home in Florida by Aaron McFarlane, an FBI agent from Boston, was deeply moved. She immediately called Matanov’s attorney to offer her home in Georgia. Teyer has never met Matanov nor the Tsnarnaevs but she told TMO, “We are all family now.” Another supporter in Massachusetts also offered Matanov a home. Attorney Hayden said he would try to find out what the amount of bail would be.

Tsarnaev Friends’ Hearing Secretly Rescheduled

November 7, 2013 by TMO 

Boston Marathon bombing Dzhokhar Tsarnaev (second from right) stands with Azamat Tazhayakov (second from left) and Dias Kadyrbayev (center) in Times Square.

Supporters of Azamat Tazhayakov, Dias Kadyrbayev and Robel Phillipos were dismayed to discover on Tuesday, October 28, 2013 that the Federal courthouse had secretly switched the time of their status hearing to 11am and announced this only on their twitter feed at 10am. The court website as well as the paper schedule at the front desk of Moakley Courthouse stated that the hearing was at 2:30. Only the clerk’s office, which is past the metal detector at the entrance, had the time crossed out with a pen and the correct time written in. Workers at the front desk said they were not aware of the change.

The result was that supporters and independent journalists sat in the hallway for hours, waiting to observe the hearing that they didn’t realize already happened that morning. Only mainstream media outlets were informed. This was the second time switch for the status hearing that was originally to take place at 10am. Many people feel that these secret actions are serving to cover up something, to deny the boys human contact.

“I was upset and furious of why they did that. This was a last minute thing and it was intentionally as I felt it was because they were trying to block off supporters from knowing something. It was a smart move on their part how well they put that together. But then it will make us be more aware of next time,” complained Ana, a nursing student following the case who had driven many miles to be there.

Defendants Tazhayakov, Kadyrbayev and Phillipos were college dorm buddies of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the surviving Boston Marathon bombing suspect, who is due back in court next week. The three are accused of throwing away fireworks, which Federal prosecutors claim constitutes disposing of evidence – even though prosecutors have yet to demonstrate that these fireworks were in any way connected to the bombing.

Oddly enough, on April 21, 2013 empty fireworks tubes were also discovered in a Watertown clothes donation bin. The Boston Herald reported that they couldn’t have been left there by the bombing suspects. Planet Aid operations manager Michael Tambosi said the bin on Belmont Street in Watertown was last emptied at 5:20am Sunday — more than two full days after suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev was killed by Watertown police. There has since been no police investigation. There has been no attempt by authorities to link the three friends to these fireworks either. Why are these particular fireworks not considered suspicious?

The Boston Globe’s Milton Valencia reports that Nicholas Wooldridge, attorney for Azamat Tazhayakov, asked Judge Bowler to lift the court order that restricts what he can say publicly about the criminal proceedings. It unfairly allows federal prosecutors to decide what information is made public while preventing defense attorneys from commenting publicly on or disseminating evidence. The protective order says defense attorneys may only share evidence with immediate family members.

“The government has been the only ones who have been able to comment on this, they’re the only ones who have been able to create a public record,” Wooldridge said. “The defendants have basically been muzzled.”

Wooldridge argued that the protective order even prevents defense lawyers from commenting on what’s already on the public record.

The order also hides most court documents from the public.

Wooldridge said the protective order should be lifted now that his client has been indicted. All three pleaded not guilty to the accusations of impeding FBI investigation.

Assistant US Attorney John Capin argued that “the protective order is properly in place,” and noted that court rules prohibit attorneys from commenting on ongoing proceedings. He said the order is needed to protect Tsarnaev’s friends from adverse pretrial publicity.

This claim does not make much logical sense, since the only information the public has are the government prosecutors’ unsubstantiated allegations in the indictment.

Wooldridge told Bowler he would not agree with any protective order, but attorneys for Tazhayakov’s co-defendants are negotiating a new agreement with prosecutors that would keep the protective order in place while broadening the restrictions so that more of the defendants’ family members can have access to the evidence, reports Valencia.

According to the indictment, Tazhayakov had seen Tsarnaev with fireworks a month earlier when he and others set them off along the banks of the Charles River in Boston. Tsarnaev’s friends initially assumed the fireworks to be “left over” from this incident, but panicked after seeing Tsarnaev’s face on television and removed them “without thinking.”

The Boston Globe and the Boston Herald both reported incidences of “kids playing with fireworks” on March 12 and March 15, 2013. A local fire marshal had been called in over concerns that the “kids” had opened fireworks tubes and attempted to construct a larger type of explosive, to “get more bang for their buck.”

Police Chief Walter Sweeney told news reporters, “Essentially, these appear to be from homemade fireworks and not firecrackers. It appears there is someone experimenting with fireworks although there is no intent to cause harm.”

Tsarnaev’s twitter feed clearly shows pictures of him and several friends in March playing with fireworks and having a great time. There were many other teenagers besides the three indicted friends of Tsarnaev who were also experimenting with the illegal fireworks.

“If there was any suspicion that any of the incidents above were anything to do with bomb making activities and that Tsarnaev’s friends were potentially complicit in such acts there would have been a lot more appearing in court,” claims investigative journalist blogger Baby Blake, who holds a degrees in Criminal Justice and Social Policy, MA Criminal Justice.

She states that the fact that the indictment against the boys “accepts that they did not know fireworks would be present in Tsarnaev’s room when they visited it and only noticed them after they had been there some time, really does lead to serious doubts over the validity of the prosecution case.”

Kadyrbayev’s lawyer, Robert Stahl, said after the hearing that his client did not understand what he had done. “There was no criminal intent to obstruct justice, or to assist Dzhokhar in any way.”

Likewise, attorneys for Phillipos stated he “had nothing to do whatsoever with the Boston Marathon bombing or destroying any evidence afterwards … in the end, it will be clear that this prosecution should never have been brought in the first place.”

Kadyrbayev and Tazhayakov had already been in police custody at the time of their arrest due to a “suspicious license plate violation” and authorities then held them on immigration grounds because their student visas had allegedly expired due to them missing classes.

They were arrested on April 19, 2013 and questioned by investigators for 48 hours before they finally confessed. Their statements were written for them by investigators, read back to them and they were asked to sign. When asked if they understood the gravity of the situation their only documented reply was “yes.”

Attorney Wooldridge told reporters after Tuesday’s hearing that the government’s case is weak because it is based on interviews conducted by FBI officials that were never recorded.

“If the three friends are found not guilty of their alleged complicity in the marathon bombings… it must be accepted that they were simply playing with fireworks along with Tsarnaev himself, ergo the fireworks they disposed of could never of been used to construct the bomb that killed and injured so many,” concludes Blake.

Their next status hearing is scheduled for January 15, 2014. No time has been reported.