Azamat Tazhayakov, a student at the University of Massachusetts (UMass) - Dartmouth, is no longer pursuing an appeal of his conviction for helping Dzhokhar Tsarnaev in the aftermath of the Boston Marathon bombing.
Tazhayakov was convicted last month of hindering the police's manhunt for Tsarnaev and his brother Tamerlan when they were named suspects. He was found guilty of conspiracy and obstruction of justice for taking a backpack containing fireworks emptied of their explosive powder from Tsarnaev's dorm room.
According to the Associated Press, Tazhayakov's lawyer filed papers Thursday to drop an appeal of the sentence, for which he has already served about two years while awaiting trial.
"I have been advised of my rights with regard to my appeal by my attorney Nicholas Wooldridge," Tazhayakov said in his court filing, according to the Boston Globe. "Upon due consideration, knowingly and voluntarily, I elect to withdraw the appeal."
Police have stated Tazhayakov threw out the backpack of empty fireworks while they were searching for evidence that could lead to Tsarnaev or link him to the bombing. At his sentencing, multiple news outlets reported, Tazhayakov apologized to Boston citizens through tears.
Found guilty of all charges against him, Tsarnaev was sentenced last month to death by lethal injection.
Another one of his friends from UMass - Dartmouth, Dias Kadyrbayev, was sentenced to six years in prison for a conviction on obstruction of justice. Like Tazhayakov, Kadyrbayev was accused of removing the backpack of empty fireworks and throwing it out.
Prosecutors in Kadyrbayev's case contended the student knowingly declined to call the authorities when he learned the Tsarnaev brothers were the primary suspects, Reuters noted. Prosecutors also noted the Tsarnaev brothers were involved in a shootout that killed a police officer just hours later.
