U.S. judge delays sentencing for Tsarnaev friends over Supreme Court case

BOSTON (Reuters) - A U.S. judge has delayed sentencing hearings for two friends of Boston bomb suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, citing a pending Supreme Court case that could affect what is considered "tangible evidence." Azamat Tazhayakov and Dias Kadyrbayev were convicted on charges they obstructed justice by removing a backpack containing opened fireworks from Tsarnaev's dorm room, days after two homemade bombs exploded at the finish line of the Boston Marathon last year. Judge Douglas Woodcock said on Thursday their sentencing hearings would be postponed until after the Supreme Court rules on another obstruction of justice case involving Florida fisherman John Yates, who was charged with destroying evidence by throwing undersized fish back into the sea while he was being investigated. Prosecutors had charged Yates under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, which was passed after the Enron accounting scandal and which prohibits destroying or altering "any record, document, or tangible object" to hamper an investigation. Yates' attorneys argued that fish do not count, and that the law was intended to prevent destruction or alteration of items used to store information, like documents or computer files, in white-collar crimes. A decision is due by the end of June. Woodcock said in his order that there are "conceivable circumstances" in which the outcome of the Yates case could impact Tazhayakov's and Kadyrbayev's sentencing. He said finalizing their cases would therefore be "improvident before anticipated guidance is provided within the foreseeable future by the Supreme Court." Attorneys for Tazhayakov and Kadyrbayev had argued during trial that their clients did not knowingly alter or destroy documents or computer files when they removed the backpack. Prosecutors say Tsarnaev and his brother Tamerlan were responsible for the marathon bombing, which killed three people and injured more than 260 others in the worst attack on U.S. soil since Sept. 11, 2001. Tamerlan was killed days after the bombing following a shootout with police. Dzhokhar is awaiting trial and faces the death penalty if convicted. (Reporting by Richard Valdmanis; Editing by Eric Beech)