Tamerlan Tsarnaev, one of the bombers from last year’s Boston Marathon tragedy, was killed just days after the incident, while his brother and partner in crime, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, is currently awaiting trial on 30 different government charges. However, while the Tsarnaev brothers are believed to be the only people who actively participated in the bombings, four of their friends are also being tried in court for allegedly impeding police investigation.

According to a report from the Associated Press, one of those friends, Khairullozhon Matanov, is planning to petition to the judge to be released on bail while his trial looms. Matanov had originally waived his right to bail, since he has no family in the United States, no job, and would be essentially homeless if released. (Matanov lost his job after being charged with his crime.) Now, however, Matanov seems to have changed his mind and is hoping to get his rights back.

Police suspect Matanov of impeding a criminal investigation for numerous reasons. For one thing, Matanov shared a dinner with both of the Tsarnaev brothers on April 15, 2013 – just hours after the bombs had exploded at the Boston Marathon finish line. Police also say that Matanov deleted files from the brothers’ computer in the days following the attacks, as well as lied to police investigators about his friendship with the two Tsarnaevs.

Matanov’s lawyer, Edward Hayden, says the cops are distorting the truth, and that Matanov was never anything less than fully cooperative with the investigation. As soon as the FBI released pictures of the bombers, Matanov recognized his friends, realized their role in the atrocity, and went to the police to provide phone numbers and addresses of the brothers. Police are not alleging that Matanov knew about the attacks prior to April 23, but Hayden is going one step further, noting that Matanov did not know the Tsarnaevs were involved until anyone else did. If that is the case, then anything Matanov did in the days following the bombings should not be considered as a purposeful impediment to the police investigation.