Marathon bomb suspects' friend to plead guilty to lying

A friend of the Boston Marathon bombing suspect is expected to plead guilty to a reduced charge of lying to the FBI.

In a court filing yesterday, prosecutors amended the charges against Khairullozhon Matanov. He had been charged with lying and with deleting information from his computer. A judge scheduled a Jan 27 plea hearing.

Matanov's lawyer, Paul Glickman, has not said if Matanov plans to testify against bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.

Jury selection began last week in Tsaraev's trial.

Matanov is accused of lying about contact he had with Tsarnaev and his brother, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, after the 2013 bombings. Three people were killed and more than 260 injured. Tamerlan died after a shootout with police days later.