Boston state and federal criminal defense attorney Brad Bailey joins FOX 25’s Mark Ockerbloom to discuss the latest filing by the defense team for accused Boston Marathon Bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. The documents filed claim that Dzhokhar Tsarnaev’s deceased brother, Tamerlan, was approached by the FBI to be an informant. The FBI denies that the Tsarnaev’s were ever FBI sources.
Look for Brad’s appearance and expert commentary at the 1:50 minute mark. More on the story below…
BOSTON (MyFoxBoston.com) — Documents filed by Tsarnaev’s defense team say the FBI approached Dzhokhar’s brother, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, asking him to be an informant, “reporting on the Chechen and Muslim community.”
The documents do not say when that request was made, but the FBI interviewed Tamerlan in 2011 after the Russian government raised concerns about him. The FBI has, in the past, adamantly denied that Tamerlan was an informant, and the new documents show that the government says it has “no evidence” that Tamerlan was asked to be an informant.
The defense says that the FBI’s visits to Tamerlan increased his “paranoia and distress,” factors they say may have led to the elder Tsarnaev’s undue influence on his younger brother.
FOX 25 reached out to the FBI for comment, and although the FBI does not ever comment on pending litigation or court cases, they did refer us to a 2013 press release that read, in part: “Additionally, the Tsarnaev brothers were never sources for the FBI nor did the FBI attempt to recruit them as sources.”
Look for Brad’s appearance and expert commentary at the 1:50 minute mark. More on the story below…
BOSTON (MyFoxBoston.com) — Documents filed by Tsarnaev’s defense team say the FBI approached Dzhokhar’s brother, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, asking him to be an informant, “reporting on the Chechen and Muslim community.”
The documents do not say when that request was made, but the FBI interviewed Tamerlan in 2011 after the Russian government raised concerns about him. The FBI has, in the past, adamantly denied that Tamerlan was an informant, and the new documents show that the government says it has “no evidence” that Tamerlan was asked to be an informant.
The defense says that the FBI’s visits to Tamerlan increased his “paranoia and distress,” factors they say may have led to the elder Tsarnaev’s undue influence on his younger brother.
FOX 25 reached out to the FBI for comment, and although the FBI does not ever comment on pending litigation or court cases, they did refer us to a 2013 press release that read, in part: “Additionally, the Tsarnaev brothers were never sources for the FBI nor did the FBI attempt to recruit them as sources.”