The Daily Free Press [
Year xliii. Volume lxxxiv. Issue LV
Thursday, May 2, 2013 The Independent Student Newspaper at Boston University
FOOD+ THROWBACK THURSDAY Harvard grad takes the A year of The Daily Free Press in culinary field by force, front page photos, page 8. page 7.
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RUBBER MATCH
WEATHER
BU will face UConn in a rematch without ace Whitney Tuthill, page 12.
Today: Mostly sunny/High 68 Tonight: Partly cloudy/Low 43 Tomorrow: 58/43 Data Courtesy of weather.com
3 men arrested in connection to bombings Gender-neutral housing prop. in Univ. Council By Kyle Plantz Daily Free Press Staff
Three men were arrested and charged Wednesday for impeding the process of the Boston Marathon bombings investigation. Azamat Tazhayakov and Dias Kadyrbayev, both 19 and residents of New Bedford, were charged for willfully conspiring with each other in offense against the U.S. and for destroying and concealing evidence by plotting to dispose of a laptop and a backpack containing fireworks belonging to bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, said Magistrate Marianne Bowler in court Wednesday. The third person, Robel Phillipos, 19, was charged with knowingly and willingly making false statements to federal officials during the investigation, Bowler said. Kadyrbayev and Tazhayakov entered the United States from Kazakhstan on student visas to attend the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth. Phillipos is a resident of Cambridge and all three suspects met Tsarnaev during school, according to a criminal complaint filed at the U.S. District Court Wednesday. Tsarnaev is being held at a prison hospital where he is recovering from wounds he received in a gun battle after killing Massachusetts Institute of Technology Police Officer Sean Collier and leading police in a pursuit chase into Watertown where he was later found in a boat. Dzhokhar’s older brother, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, was killed in the shootout. On April 18, authorities released the pic-
By Chris Lisinski Daily Free Press Staff
KYLE PLANTZ/DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF
Robert Stahl, Dias Kadyrbayev’s defense lawyer, speaks to the media after Kadyrbayev was formally charged with conspiracy to obstruct justice Wednesday afternoon at the John Joseph Moakley United States courthouse.
tures of the Tsarnaev brothers and the three suspects eventually figured out that Dzhokhar was one of the bombers after seeing news reports, according to the complaint. “Kadyrbayev then texted Tsarnaev and told him that he looked like the suspect on television. Tsarnaev’s return texts contained ‘LOL’ and other things Kadyrbayev interpreted as jokes such as ‘you better not text me’ and ‘come to my room and take whatever you want,’” according to the affidavit. The three then went to his dormitory room that night and found that Tsarnaev had left. They watched some movies and then discov-
ered Tsarnaev’s backpack full of empty fireworks, which scared Tazhayakov who began to believe that Tsarnaev was part of the bombings, according to court documents. The trio collectively decided to throw the backpack and fireworks into the trash because they did not want Tsarnaev to get into trouble. Kadyrbayev put the backpack into a large trash bag and threw it into a dumpster near their apartment, according to the affidavit. Investigators recovered the backpack April 26 in a New Bedford landfill. It contained the
Suspects, see page 5
Tsarnaev’s new lawyer known for high-profile, death penalty cases By Emily Overholt Daily Free Press Staff
Unabomber Ted Kaczynski, Altlanta Olympics bomber Eric Rudolph and Boston Marathon bomber Dhzhokhar Tsarnaev now have more in common than their alleged criminal acts. They all have or had acclaimed defense attorney Judy Clarke behind their table. U.S. Magistrate Judge Marianne Bowler appointed Clarke to aid Miriam Conrad, head federal defender on the case, and the defense team Monday. “It’s very rare to have a death penalty case brought in Massachussets,” said Stanley Fisher, a Boston University School of Law professor specializing in criminal law. “The state doesn’t have the death penalty, the federal statutes do … I don’t know the last time the federal government sought the death penalty in a case in Massachusetts.” Since capital defense is a specialty in law, Fisher said the federal defense office most likely brought in Clarke due to her experience.
Clarke, whose practice is based in San Diego where there is a death penalty, primarily takes death penalty cases. Her most notable clients, most recently Tucson shooter Jared Loughner, who injured former Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, all received life sentences, despite capital punishment being sought for their cases. Fisher said a major part of what a death penalty lawyer does is investigate the defendant’s past to both find exculpatory evidence around which to build a defense and to find inculpatory evidence the prosecution may use against him or her. “This requires a lot of time and resources, and it’s something that capital defense lawyers are used to and trained and equipped to do,” he said. Bowler has denied a request by Conrad to appoint a second death penalty lawyer to the defense, Washington and Lee University professor David Bruck. Tsarnaev is specifically charged with one count of using and conspiring to use a weapon
of mass destruction and one count of malicious destruction of property by means of an explosive device resulting in death. The bomb he is charged with using during the Boston Marathon April 15 killed three and injured more than 200 others. The devices were placed near the metal barriers separating the runners from the spectators, and each explosion killed, maimed, burned or wounded many people in addition to damaging public property. Tsarnaev is being held at a prison hospital, recovering from wounds he received in a gun battle after killing Massachusetts Institute of Technology Police Officer Sean Collier and leading police in a chase into Watertown where he was later found in a boat. Dzhokhar’s older brother, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, also suspected in the bombing case, was killed in the shootout. Wednesday, three more suspects were arrested for charges related to the marathon bombings. The three received their own lawyers and are facing federal charges of up to five years in prison.
After a semester of deliberations, Dean of Students Kenneth Elmore has submitted an official gender-neutral housing proposal to the University Council on behalf of a subcommittee tasked with addressing the topic. If the University Council votes to approve the proposal and BU President Robert Brown gives a final signature, gender-neutral options can be implemented in the fall 2013 semester, marking the culmination of several years of effort. “I actually like to call it ‘gender-neutral roommate selection’ because I think that’s more the crux of the matter,” Elmore said. “We’re not doing anything specific with housing, it’s more or less an option for people. They’re able to select their roommates without regard as to what the gender of that roommate is.” Under the proposal, students in certain residences will no longer be required to live with roommates of the same gender identity. However, traditionally freshmen residences, such as Warren Towers, West Campus and The Towers, residences that have single-gender community bathrooms and specialty residences are excluded. “We let students decide who their roommate is without regard to that roommate’s gender or the original student’s gender,” Elmore said. If the proposal is approved, in the fall 2013 semester students will be able to direct swap regardless of gender identity, thereby creating their own gender-neutral space if they so desire, so long as the residence space is not in one of those excluded from the policy. “Say you and I are rooming together and I leave,” Elmore said. “You’ve got that vacancy there. You get to make a selection about who your roommate is. That’s how you start to create it in the system.” Then, during the spring 2014 housing selection cycle, a certain number of bed spaces will be set aside to ensure a minimum amount of gender-neutral availability, but students will be able to determine their roommates regardless of gender in appropriate residences, he said. “Once we go with starting to let people pull others in, we’re open,” Elmore said. “… It just continues, that’s really the gist of it. We start in the fall with gender-neutral roommate selection.” Elmore said if students are living in a suite
GNH, see page 5
SBA provides federal funding for businesses impacted by Marathon bombings By Bram Peterson Daily Free Press Staff
KIERA BLESSING/DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF
Small businesses affected by the Boston Marathon bombing, such as Whiskey’s Steakhouse pictured above, can apply for federal aid to recover lost revenue.
Boston Mayor Thomas Menino announced Tuesday that funding opportunities from the Small Business Administration would be made available to businesses affected by the Boston Marathon bombings starting May 1. “Our goal was to find alternative funding options for businesses to help them through these challenges, and I am proud that we have achieved that,” Menino said in a press release Tuesday. The SBA is a federal government agency that provides assistance to businesses and homeowners following many types of disruptions that leave victims in difficult financial situations. “These businesses that had been closed for several days lost quite a bit of money,” said Carol Chastang, an SBA spokeswoman, “These loans will go a long way toward helping them recoup their losses, stay in business and continue operating the way they were op-
erating before the bombing occurred.” Mass. Gov. Deval Patrick first reached out to the SBA April 26 after a preliminary survey had been conducted to see whether the SBA should be involved. “We worked with the city to touch base with the businesses that seemed highly impacted, and all we needed to qualify was to have three businesses with severe impact,” said Peter Judge, a spokesman for the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency. “There could be quite a number of businesses within that area that might avail themselves for loans.” Patrick sent a letter to the SBA April 26 requesting its assistance for businesses that suffered from the closing of Boylston Street during the crime scene investigation. “The closure of this vibrant area of downtown Boston has caused significant business disruption and negative economic impact to many businesses in the area,” Patrick said in
Federal Aid, see page 5