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Bail Considered For USF Explosives Suspect

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By ELAINE SILVESTRINI | The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 5, 2007

Video: Jail Visit

TAMPA - When Yahia Megahed visited his brother in the Hillsborough County Jail, he looked into a camera used for jail visits and made some silly faces, moving his eyebrows and pursing his lips.

Then he looked around, and started making gestures with his left hand, stopping when someone walked nearby, pretending to scratch his head.

To federal prosecutors, this display on Sept. 14 was something sinister. It was some kind of coded communications, they claim. They don't want to make public exactly what they think the communications were.

To an attorney for Youssef Megahed's brother, it was just goofy. Yahia Megahed could see his own picture on the screen. His brother wasn't even on the other side of the camera yet. He was just killing time, aping for the camera, while he waited to find out about a visit. He stopped when people walked by because he didn't want to be seen being dopey.

As with many other aspects of the explosives charge against two University of South Florida students, that video can be viewed through different prisms, leading to two very different conclusions.

The video was played in federal court Friday as U.S. District Judge Steven D. Merryday struggled with the question of whether Megahed should be released on bail.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Jay Hoffer argues that Megahed, an Egyptian citizen, is a danger to the community and poses a risk of flight.
Public defender Adam Allen says his client has led a law-abiding life. Three credits away from his college degree, he comes from a close-knit family who is willing to risk everything for him.

Merryday, who reserved his decision on the bail matter, asked Allen, "What level of risk should I run on behalf of the community to vindicate his liberty interests on behalf of himself?"

The law, Allen said, requires that the judge take measures that "reasonably assure" the defendant won't pose a risk to the community.
"What's reasonable?" the judge asked.

Youssef Megahed and fellow student Ahmed Mohamed were arrested Aug. 4 in South Carolina after deputies said they found explosives in the trunk of the car in which the students were riding.

Mohamed, 26, who is in the U.S. on a student visa, has waived his right to a bond hearing, and is being held without bail. Mohamed is also accused of trying to help terrorists by teaching or demonstrating the use of explosives by posting a video on the web site YouTube about how to turn a remote-controlled toy into a bomb detonator.

Megahed, 21, a legal permanent resident of the U.S., has been in the country since he was a young child. He faces only the explosives charge, which carries a maximum of 10 years in prison, but likely far less under federal sentencing guidelines.

Both men are also being held on immigration detainers, meaning if they were released on bail, they still would be held unless an immigration judge removed the holds or the government lifted them.

Hoffer told Merryday there's a good chance the detainer will be lifted, at least for Megahed because there are no grounds to conclude that Megahed is in this country illegally.

In presenting his case to keep Megahed behind bars, Hoffer said agents have found a witness who saw the two Megahed brothers and Mohamed together before Aug. 4 making anti-American statements. Hoffer didn't give any more information about those statements.

For nearly every other piece of evidence described by Hoffer during Friday's bond hearing, Allen had an innocent explanation.

Hoffer said Megahed and his brother went to Sears and had passport photos taken in July, even though both men already have passports. Allen said the photos were needed because the family was applying for citizenship and the pictures are part of the application.

Reporter Elaine Silvestrini can be reached at (813) 259-7837 or esilvestrini@tampatrib.com.

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