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Postponement Granted In Mohamed Explosives Trial

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By THOMAS W.  KRAUSE | The Tampa Tribune

Published: February 27, 2008

TAMPA - TAMPA - Recently hired defense attorneys for a former University of South Florida student charged with transporting explosives were granted a postponement today in the pending trial.

Last month, Ahmed Mohamed fired his attorney, accusing him of charging big bucks and offering shoddy legal service. He was told that hiring new counsel would not guarantee a postponement.

Linda Moreno, one of Mohamed's new attorneys, said in court today that if the trial were to begin next month as scheduled, she and her co-counsel, Lyann Goudie, would have only three weeks to prepare.

U.S. District Judge Steven Merryday said a trial in March seemed impossible, especially since some pretrial issues have not been resolved. Defense attorneys, for example, have challenged the South Carolina traffic stop and search and have asked that evidence recovered in the stop be thrown out.

The new trial date is April 28. It is expected to take more than a week.

Mohamed and Youssef Megahed were arrested Aug. 4 in South Carolina. The two were charged with illegally transporting explosives after deputies found what they described as explosive materials in their car. A defense attorney wrote in court filings that an FBI lab determined the materials were nothing more than fireworks.

Mohamed also was charged with trying to help terrorists by making and posting on the Internet a video where he demonstrates how to use a remote-control toy to detonate a bomb.

Also today, Merryday wavered on an outstanding issue regarding jury selection.

Defense attorneys have asked the judge to issue questionnaires to potential jurors, hoping to weed out people with preconceived notions about the case. Similar questionnaires were given during jury selection in the trial of Sami Al-Arian.

In court today, Merryday said he was surprised the attorneys were seeking jury questionnaires in this case.

"This is not the Al-Arian case," he said. "This is a real simple case."

Merryday said he understands that Megahed and Mohamed have gotten a lot of media coverage but that this is not a terrorism case.

Federal public defender Adam Allen pointed out that Mohamed does face a terror-related charge and that the issues can lead to strong bias.

"One thing you don't have to worry about is that I would allow any defendant to be tried by a biased juror," Merryday assured the attorneys.

Reporter Thomas W. Krause can be reached at (813) 259-7698 or tkrause@tampatrib.com.

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