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LAWYER: NOT HARMLESS FIREWORKS

The prosecutor opposes a defense motion to free one of two students in an explosives case.
 
Published Feb. 5, 2008|Updated Feb. 15, 2008

A federal prosecutor said Monday that Youssef Megahed's attorney mischaracterized an FBI report by describing explosive materials found in Megahed's trunk as "a harmless pyrotechnic mixture."

"Nowhere in the FBI laboratory report is there a description or characterization of the mixture at issue as being 'harmless,'" Assistant U.S. Attorney Jay Hoffer wrote in a motion filed Monday.

Hoffer is opposing a request by Megahed's attorney for a federal judge to reconsider granting bail to Megahed based on an FBI analysis of the materials recovered from his car trunk.

Federal public defender Adam Allen, Megahed's attorney, filed a motion last week that downplayed the danger of the materials found with Megahed, 21, and fellow suspended University of South Florida student Ahmed Mohamed, 26, when they were arrested Aug. 4.

A federal indictment charges both men with illegally transporting explosive materials. Mohamed faces an additional charge of demonstrating how to make an explosive device. Prosecutors said he posted a video to YouTube explaining how to turn a remote control toy into a detonator.

Prosecutors said that after Megahed and Mohamed were stopped Aug. 4 for speeding near a South Carolina naval base, investigators found four pieces of PVC pipe filled with sugar, potassium nitrate and cat litter in their trunk.

"Simply put, based on the FBI expert testing, the PVC pipes found in the trunk of the vehicle were harmless pyrotechnic materials similar to those found in fireworks and road flares," Allen wrote in his Jan. 30 motion.

Prosecutors said Megahed and Mohamed also had lighters inside the car and safety fuses and a canister that contained gasoline in the trunk. Furthermore, Hoffer said, the U.S. Attorney General classifies safety fuses and potassium nitrate explosive mixtures as "explosive materials" in the Federal Register.

"Indeed, the defendant did not, and certainly could not, cite any reference to any portion of any laboratory report which supports the mistaken and faulty characterization of these items," Hoffer wrote. "Experts from the FBI laboratory describe these items as dangerous; the degree of their dangerousness is, according to them, dependent both upon their use and their surroundings."

Allen had said that "a 'pyrotechnic mixture,' while commonly referred to as a 'low explosive,' is not scientifically nor legally defined as 'explosive materials.'" On Monday, he defended his motion and his interpretation of the FBI analysis.

"I believe that the FBI report speaks for itself, which was attached to my motion," Allen told the St. Petersburg Times. "But I believe the FBI testing indisputably shows that if ignited, these items would do nothing more than either expel smoke, burn or do nothing at all. If these devices were harmless, then that is a completely relevant issue to my client's petition."

During a Sept. 14 hearing, U.S. Magistrate Judge Elizabeth Jenkins ordered Megahed's release on a $200,000 secured bond, but prosecutors immediately appealed.

After an appeal hearing on Oct. 5, U.S. District Judge Steven Merryday ordered that Megahed remain in jail pending his trial.

Mohamed has never requested to be released on bail. Both men remain at a Hillsborough County jail. They are scheduled to stand trial together before Merryday as early as March.

Kevin Graham can be reached at kgraham@sptimes.com or (813) 226-3433.