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| This Friday, April 19, 2013 photo shows the home of Katherine Russell's parents in North Kingstown, R.I. Russell, widow of Boston Marathon bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev, has been staying there. Legal experts say intense pressure from federal authorities on what they know to be the inner circle of the two bombing suspects is part of their quest not just to determine whether Russell and the friends of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev are culpable but also to push for as much information as possible regarding whether the bombing suspects had ties to a terrorism network or accomplices working domestically or abroad. |
BOSTON (AP)
-- Every time the widow of suspected Boston Marathon bomber Tamerlan
Tsarnaev leaves her parents' house, federal agents watching the
residence follow her in unmarked vehicles.
Federal
authorities are placing intense pressure on what they know to be the
inner circle of the two bombing suspects, arresting three college
buddies of surviving brother Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, and keeping Tamerlan's
24-year-old widow, Katherine Russell, in the public eye with their open
surveillance and leaks to media about investigators' focus on her.
Legal
experts say it's part of their quest not just to determine whether
Russell and the friends are culpable but also to push for as much
information as possible regarding whether the bombing suspects had ties
to a terrorism network or accomplices working domestically or abroad. A
primary goal is to push the widow and friends to give their full
cooperation, according to the experts.
David
Zlotnick, a professor of law at Roger Williams University and former
federal prosecutor in the District of Columbia, said authorities may be
tracking Russell closely because they feel she's not being completely
honest about all she knows.
"It seems to me they don't believe her yet," he said.
Dzhokhar
is in a prison hospital, facing a potential death sentence if convicted
of the terrorism plot that authorities allege the 19-year-old and his
late 26-year-old brother carried out April 15. Twin pressure cooker
bombs detonated near the race's finish line, leaving three people dead
and injuring more than 260 others. Tamerlan died in a gunfight with
authorities April 19, a day after authorities released photos of the
suspects.
Tamerlan's widow has been ensconced
at her parents' North Kingstown, R.I., home since then. Much about her
remains a mystery, including what she knew or witnessed in the weeks,
months and years before the bombings, and what she saw and did in the
days after.
It's unclear when Russell last
communicated with her husband, but her lawyer, Amato DeLuca, told The
Associated Press in an interview last month that the last time she saw
him was before she went to work April 18. DeLuca said Tuesday that
Russell had met with law enforcement "for many hours over the past
week," and would continue to do so in the coming days. He previously
told the AP that Russell didn't suspect her husband of anything before
the bombings, and nothing seemed amiss in the days after.
Zlotnick
said the fact that charges have been brought against the younger
brother's three friends from the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth
over allegations they covered up for Dzhokhar indicates authorities are
willing to go after the widow for similar actions. That puts pressure on
Russell to cooperate.
Dias Kadyrbayev and
Azamat Tazhayakov, students from Kazakhstan, were charged this week with
conspiring to obstruct justice by taking a backpack with fireworks and a
laptop from Dzhokhar's dorm room, while Robel Phillipos was charged
with lying to investigators about the visit to the dorm room. All three
are 19 years old and face the possibility of five or more years in
federal prison.
The lawyers for the Kazakh
students said their clients had nothing to do with the bombing and were
shocked by the crime. Phillipos' attorney, Derege Demissie, said he was
accused only of a "misrepresentation."
Nancy
Gertner, a former federal judge in Massachusetts and a professor at
Harvard Law School, said she believes authorities will try to use the
conspiracy charges against the friends to turn them into cooperating
witnesses against Dzhokhar. They will also see if the defendants can
help them determine if there's a wider plot and a continuing danger for
citizens.
"I think it's to find out ... are there other tentacles here?" Gertner said.
A
grand jury is likely already hearing testimony against Dzhokhar, said
Michael Sullivan, a former U.S. attorney for Massachusetts who also once
headed the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
He said investigators will be looking into whether the brothers tested
bombs before the attack and asking questions about whom Tamerlan had
contact with when he traveled to Russia last year.
Those are some of the things they would also want to know from Russell.
One
of investigators' goals right now is "to figure out if she has
knowledge of how he became radicalized, who he spoke to, how he may have
learned to make the bomb and whether there are others out there who
share his views," said Ron Sullivan, a professor and director of
Harvard's Criminal Justice Institute.
In
addition to threatening her with criminal charges and a potential prison
sentence to get what they want from her, Ron Sullivan said authorities
can bring social pressure to bear, including leaking information that
suggests she isn't being helpful.
"She's the
mother of a young daughter. I imagine she does not want to be deemed as a
pariah or ostracized by the whole country," he said.
One
question that swirls around Russell is what she saw inside the cramped
Cambridge apartment she shared with Tamerlan, whom she married in 2010,
and their toddler. Two U.S. officials have told the AP that Dzhokhar
told investigators the bombs were assembled in that apartment. They
spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to
publicly discuss the details of the ongoing investigation.
Robert
Clark Corrente, a former U.S. attorney for Rhode Island, said it is
unlikely Russell could be prosecuted if she saw a pressure cooker in the
home. But if she saw a dozen pressure cookers and several bags of
fireworks, that could be a different story.
Her
culpability for her actions after the bombings is also a matter of
degrees. She could be in trouble if authorities determine she harbored
someone or destroyed evidence. But even if Russell communicated with her
husband after the release of his photo as the bombing suspect, Corrente
said she may not be charged because of the public way it happened.
"I think anybody would be expected to call his or her spouse and say, `You won't believe what I just saw on TV,'" Corrente said.
The
arrests of Dzhokhar's friends and scrutiny of Russell may also have a
deterrent effect by demonstrating what happens to people who don't alert
authorities if someone close to them is involved in a terror plot,
Zlotnick said.
Eugene O'Donnell, a John Jay
College of Criminal Justice lecturer and former police officer and
assistant district attorney in New York City, said the message from
federal authorities is clear: "No stone will be unturned" in their
probe.
"I think after 9/11 there's really a kitchen sink approach to national security," he said.
