General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region Forums3 pals of Boston Marathon bombing suspect charged with coverup
The three friends, who are all 19-years-old, allegedly went to Tsarnaevs dorm room after the FBI photos came out April 18 and left with a backpack that contained fireworks tubes that had been emptied of their explosive powder, according to the documents....
...They then "collectively decided to throw the backpack and fireworks into the trash because they did not want Tsarnaev to get in trouble," Kadyrbayev told agents, according to the complaint.
http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/05/01/18001437-3-pals-of-boston-marathon-bombing-suspect-charged-with-coverup?lite
Eugene
(61,900 posts)....ing idiots!
arely staircase
(12,482 posts)Fawke Em
(11,366 posts)Listen, if you had been friends with someone for many years of your young life - including those formative teen years - you're NOT going to accept the fact that that friend may be guilty of a heinous crime - EVEN if that person looks EXACTLY like the suspect.
It's simply NOT going to dawn on you, particularly at 19 years old, that that is even possible.
From all accounts, Jahar Tsarnaev was an average, normal college kid. He sounds like an American college kid. He acted like one.
I suspect these guys were beginning to awaken to the fact that their friend was involved in this and wanted, out of sheer love and loyalty, to protect him without realizing the enormity of the situation. I think they now know, but are STILL having a hard time accepting it.
Shit, wouldn't YOU?
arely staircase
(12,482 posts)I don't give a shit who you are/
Fawke Em
(11,366 posts)arely staircase
(12,482 posts)madokie
(51,076 posts)In fact I'm not sure I want to read anymore of what you might have to say on anything going forward
cali
(114,904 posts)disgusting little assholes covering for their murderous friend. I can't imagine doing that for anyone- not even my son.
Fawke Em
(11,366 posts)My point is that they didn't KNOW it was him. Couldn't FATHOM it was him. Got rid of a bunch of fireworks just in case because they're kids and didn't know what to do.
Man, you people must have forgotten your youth.
I'm 43 and if one of my best friends was accused of something like this, I'd have a hard as hell time imagining and accepting that it was them.
cali
(114,904 posts)I think they did know or certainly suspected and their actions demonstrate that.
arely staircase
(12,482 posts)I would lawyer him up first and then call the cops. a friend would have lost the friendship when his face was on TV and then I found the evidence in his dorm room.
I might even go to the cops if I thought someone I knew was responsible for something like this. Hell I know I'd go to the cops, no if and or buts about it. Killing people is not cool no matter who or what the circumstances are
Fawke Em
(11,366 posts)I'm telling you... I bet they simply couldn't accept it.
madokie
(51,076 posts)You are way out of line in this train of thought you have. I feel for you
arely staircase
(12,482 posts)yes it is disgusting
madokie
(51,076 posts)disturbing actually
Fawke Em
(11,366 posts)being proven guilty and that you'd want that for your friend?
Wow.
FarCenter
(19,429 posts)If you witness a crime, you generally do not have a duty to report it to the police, unless you are in one of the special situations where laws make reporting a duty.
However, you may not conceal or alter evidence, and if asked about the crime by the police, you must respond to the questions truthfully.
Fawke Em
(11,366 posts)My point is that they were trying to work this out and finally did.
That we expect people to stop loving their friend and turn on him or her on a dime and without reflection, even if it is the right thing, is kind of awful.
FarCenter
(19,429 posts)Which is a crime.
madokie
(51,076 posts)Fawke Em
(11,366 posts)Fawke Em
(11,366 posts)You're convicting people before a trial, but, I'm guessing, you have ALWAYS defended civil rights.
Sorry, I feel for you.
madokie
(51,076 posts)I stated pretty plain what I would do and how I feel and its nothing like you're going on about.
Now take your stupid somewhere else, I'm not interested in any of it. bye
Fawke Em
(11,366 posts)but, you don't think you have.
Take your stupid and go somewhere else yourself.
arely staircase
(12,482 posts)would you have done the same for a friend?
Fawke Em
(11,366 posts)I'm an American and believe the accused should have a right to a trial.
Not convicted in the media (of which I was a part of) or on message boards.
arely staircase
(12,482 posts)would you have done the same?
Fawke Em
(11,366 posts)However, they are 19.
That you know what you would do, no matter how much you loved your friend and didn't want him to be involved and couldn't imagine it, is unimaginable.
For the record: I had to cover the murder of a man by his wife and her lover for the newspaper I worked for and I had been friends with the lover. We weren't all that close, but I STILL had a hard time wrapping my mind around the fact that he did it until I sat through the trial.
arely staircase
(12,482 posts)you need help
Fawke Em
(11,366 posts)Whiskeytide
(4,461 posts)... I don't think anyone here is saying these guys should go straight to jail with no trial. No one here approves of trial/conviction in the media or on a message board. Even though every post may not explicitly state it, I suspect every poster would agree to the unspoken qualification of "if they did it...".
But what you seem to be saying is that even if they did it, you would cut them slack. I can't agree with you on that. They are 19, not 9. They are alleged to have disposed of evidence that no one could reasonably claim was not highly incriminating given the circumstances. Empty fireworks tubes??? You don't think they understood the significance of that?
And, though we'll never know for certain, there is certainly the possibility that had they gone immediately to authorities when they recognized the published photos, an MIT police officer, husband and father would still be alive.
You're pretty far out on a limb here. If they did what the police have accused (at least as far as what the media is telling us about that), they should be prosecuted without hesitation. If there were extenuating circumstances, they will have an opportunity to defend themselves by presenting them. But they won't get any slack from me or most others because they were young and confused.
Fawke Em
(11,366 posts)Whiskeytide
(4,461 posts)... but I stand by what I said. I think there is a significant difference between an inability to accept the proposition that someone you know committed a heinous crime (understandable) and actively - with organized thought - taking steps to eliminate evidence of that crime (simply unforgivable). If they did that, they should be held accountable criminally and perhaps civilly.
flamingdem
(39,313 posts)??
Fawke Em
(11,366 posts)Not quite accepting the reality, but not wanting their friend to get in trouble.
They're kids/young adults. This is as foreign to them as it would be to any of us.
LisaL
(44,973 posts)Fawke Em
(11,366 posts)Apparently, these people have already been proven guilty without a trial.
Politicalboi
(15,189 posts)But, I can see where you're coming from. They hear about torture and terrorist, and the loony GOP. They lived with the guy, they texted him, they may have thought they would be in trouble to speak up. And if their visas were expired, they may be shipped off. So they may have done this so no one would think they were involved. But just the opposite happened. Yes they never should have lied, or go rid of the backpack and the lap top. But if I were a foreigner in this country, I may be scared to talk too. Gitmo is still open.
Fawke Em
(11,366 posts)In fact, more plausible that what I was saying.
Trajan
(19,089 posts)and we would party like all teens in the 70's did ...
During that time, I began to recognize that some of our merry band would commit some egregious acts ... one pulled a knife in a bar and looked at me, requesting that I. a life long pacifist and cool head stoner (at that time), be his back up in his little tawdry to-do ...
I told him he was out of his fucking mind, and that I would never consider joining his stupid, little unnecessary brouhaha ...
I never saw him again, but it's my understanding that he died in a jail some years latter ...
I have a set of personal values that transcend acquaintance ... I would never discard my own integrity just so someone else I happen to know can get away with murder ... FUCK THAT ...
I have to live in my own skin ... nobody else does ...
So yeah ... I do NOT have your back Fawkes ... Not if you act like a criminal buffoon ...
Fawke Em
(11,366 posts)I am having trouble accepting that DU is this fucking square.
Good, God!
Murder is NOT acceptable and I'm not saying it is. I'm SAYING that it's hard to believe your best friend is an accused terrorist. That's a hard cry difference from robbing a bank or a liquor store. It's being scared and alone and overwhelmed.
GitRDun
(1,846 posts)While for myself I would not cover for that friend, I can see how a 19 year old might make a horrific decision to do something like that. While that does not excuse the behavior, I can understand why it might happen.
It's a little disappointing to see so many talk "past" your statements. I did not see you condone the behavior anywhere. You seemed to be saying you can understand how it would happen.
In the end, I think we need to take a deep breath and understand all the facts, e.g., did they hide things after they knew he did something or before, what exactly did they do, etc.
Hyperbole abounds lately...
cherokeeprogressive
(24,853 posts)Not for any reason or length of time.
If a lifelong friend of mine had been involved in something like this, then shot a man in the face in order to take his gun I'd be on the phone with the authorities post haste.
That you would defend someone who'd murdered innocent women and a child with a bomb and a man for no fucking reason whatsoever says volumes about you.
Fawke Em
(11,366 posts)What I SAID is that they didn't KNOW and couldn't COMPREHEND that he did that!
Jeez.
They wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt because they loved their friend.
It says volumes about you that you're not getting this.
P.S. They did this before their friend was named and before their friend's brother shot a man in the face. Read the timeline.
Bluenorthwest
(45,319 posts)Your theory that 19 year old university students can not tell right from wrong when there are 3 dead and 15 who lost limbs is absurd. Just absurd.
If they did not think he did it, were they robbing his dorm room? Why did they do there and remove things? Sleepwalking? A prank?
Fawke Em
(11,366 posts)They wanted it to not be true.
I guess everyone now thinks that people just have idea-pops and they change their feelings like a light switch.
Hell, my first husband cheated on me the night our son was born and it still took me months to kick him out and file for divorce.
On Edit: 1. Cheating is not murder, but the point is that I didn't stop loving him because he cheated. However, I knew I couldn't live with that.
2. You're expecting people who loved the suspect to accept that their friend is, indeed, that suspect, in two or three days.
Bluenorthwest
(45,319 posts)They had very clearly accepted that their pal was suspect as they went to clean his evidence.
We do not, you do not know what they felt or thought, you do not know they loved this guy, don't know they were confused, don't know any of it.
Destruction of items you assume the police will look at indicates you know those items are in some way incriminating. It does not indicate that you feel confused about the nature of the items at all. It indicates the opposite of that.
ProudToBeBlueInRhody
(16,399 posts)....or shot up a few mailboxes.
Three people are dead, including an eight year old boy.
dballance
(5,756 posts)By the time a person is 19 they're very much old enough to know right from wrong. If one of my friends' pictures got posted by the FBI as suspect 1 or suspect 2 who had killed 3 people and injured over 100 I'd be calling the FBI, not hiding the evidence of their crimes.
I was in a fraternity in college and we all said we were each others' brother and I had close friends there. But I'd have turned in anyone of them if they did what the Tsarnaevs are alleged to have done. Case in point, we had a girl allege that an associate member had sexually assaulted her at a party in a bedroom at the fraternity house. We shut down the party, kept all the witnesses separated and from talking to one another, called our adviser and the campus police and city police. That was for an assault on a single person. Not for murder of 3 people and maiming dozens more.
Fawke Em
(11,366 posts)is far easier than believing your best friend is a terrorist. It's not in the same realm.
I give your frat kudos, though.
newmember
(805 posts)malaise
(269,054 posts)Strange.
arely staircase
(12,482 posts)maybe someone was "of interest" but wasn't charged.
VanillaRhapsody
(21,115 posts)kentuck
(111,103 posts)accomplices to a crime and coverup,
HereSince1628
(36,063 posts)prosecuted as a separate crime, IIRC
aikoaiko
(34,172 posts)flamingdem
(39,313 posts)ha ha they weren't tossing that in the trash so fast.
If they'd done it right away they wouldn't be in this jam.
They f*cked up and need to pay because their lack of action may have
caused more deaths.
Fawke Em
(11,366 posts)DU sucks now.
morningfog
(18,115 posts)Look at the post below.
flamingdem
(39,313 posts)your fancy. Wanna bet that there are plenty of emotional posts and not perfectly PC posts from those who criticize a thirst for justice, and that's what is being expressed -- not a desire to break the law -- an easily understood set of emotions being expressed. Get over yerselves
Fawke Em
(11,366 posts)The fact is that people on DU are convicting people.
I've no desire to break the law, but to call people guilty who have not been adjudicated is, well, anti-American, even by your own set of "rules."
flamingdem
(39,313 posts)and this is a forum for opinion and emotion.
Fawke Em
(11,366 posts)I'm talking about emotion through most of this thread: how his FRIENDS might not want to admit he MIGHT be GUILTY, but those emotions are wrong.
I know Big Bird and you are no Big Bird.
Kalidurga
(14,177 posts)Then sent back to where ever they came from.
Fawke Em
(11,366 posts)So, we send him where?
Lemme guess! To the South!
:irony:
Politicalboi
(15,189 posts)They could have been the hero's in this had they told authorities who the guy was and where he lived. Then they could have and still may write a book. I look at these 3 as idiots, but they will be rich idiots when they get out.
flamingdem
(39,313 posts)isn't there a law now against profiting from a crime?