Court could hear case of Boston Marathon bomber’s friend

BOSTON – A college friend of Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev (joh-HAHR’ tsahr-NEYE’-ehv) seeking to overturn his 2014 conviction for lying to authorities has asked the nation’s highest court to hear his case.

The Boston Globe reports Robel Phillipos’ attorney filed a petition Friday asking the U.S. Supreme Court to review a lower court decision. Federal prosecutors have until Dec. 4 to respond.

A federal appeals court this year rejected Phillipos’ bid to overturn his conviction. Phillipos argued statements he made to FBI investigators after the April 2013 bombing were coerced.

Phillipos at first told authorities he did not go to Tsarnaev’s dorm room at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth after the bombings but later said he had lied.

He was sentenced to prison and is scheduled to be released in February.