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Friend of accused Boston bomber pleads guilty to gun, drug charges
Source: Reuters
Friend of accused Boston bomber pleads guilty to gun, drug charges
BY SCOTT MALONE
BOSTON Fri Dec 19, 2014 4:39pm EST
(Reuters) - A high school friend of the accused Boston Marathon bombers pleaded guilty on Friday to charges including having possessed a gun that prosecutors contend the suspects used to shoot dead a university police officer as they tried to flee the city.
Stephen Silva, 21, changed his plea from not guilty in U.S. District Court in Boston after reaching a deal with federal prosecutors that was filed under seal.
His plea comes as the city braces for the January start of the trial of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the younger of the pair of brothers who prosecutors say killed three people and injured more than 260 in the April 15, 2013 attack, as well as fatally shooting a Massachusetts Institute of Technology officer three days later.
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Silva, who is not accused of playing any role in the bombing, pleaded guilty to charges of selling heroin, as well as having possessed a handgun with its serial number filed off. That gun was discovered after the Watertown gunbattle, two months after Silva admitted to possessing it.
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BY SCOTT MALONE
BOSTON Fri Dec 19, 2014 4:39pm EST
(Reuters) - A high school friend of the accused Boston Marathon bombers pleaded guilty on Friday to charges including having possessed a gun that prosecutors contend the suspects used to shoot dead a university police officer as they tried to flee the city.
Stephen Silva, 21, changed his plea from not guilty in U.S. District Court in Boston after reaching a deal with federal prosecutors that was filed under seal.
His plea comes as the city braces for the January start of the trial of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the younger of the pair of brothers who prosecutors say killed three people and injured more than 260 in the April 15, 2013 attack, as well as fatally shooting a Massachusetts Institute of Technology officer three days later.
[font size=1]-snip-[/font]
Silva, who is not accused of playing any role in the bombing, pleaded guilty to charges of selling heroin, as well as having possessed a handgun with its serial number filed off. That gun was discovered after the Watertown gunbattle, two months after Silva admitted to possessing it.
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Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/12/19/us-usa-explosions-boston-friends-idUSKBN0JX16520141219