Friend of Boston Marathon bomber pleads guilty to lying

BOSTON -- A friend of one of the Boston Marathon bombers has pleaded guilty to misleading investigators.

Khairullozhon Matanov appeared Tuesday in federal court.

Judge William Young asked Matanov whether he understood the agreement with prosecutors, which calls for a 30-month sentence. Matantov said he's innocent, but there are enough facts to convict him and he doesn't want to face a possible 20 years in prison. Sentencing is scheduled for June.

Matanov was a close friend of Tamerlan Tsarnaev's and an acquaintance of his brother, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. Prosecutors say Matanov deceived authorities about his relationship with Tamerlan after the April 2013 bombings. Tamerlan died after a gunfight with police.

Matanov was charged with lying and with deleting information from his computer.

His lawyer hasn't said whether he plans to testify in Dzhokhar's trial.