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Evidence Battle Continues In Megahed, Mohamed Case

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By ELAINE SILVESTRINI | The Tampa Tribune

Published: March 14, 2008

TAMPA – Defense attorneys for two former University of South Florida students charged with transporting explosives say a federal magistrate got it wrong when he recommended that a judge allow evidence seized in a South Carolina traffic stop.

U.S. Magistrate Mark Pizzo issued a report two weeks ago recommending that U.S. District Judge Steven D. Merryday deny motions by attorneys for Ahmed Mohamed and Youssef Megahed that the evidence be suppressed. The evidence in question includes what the prosecution describes as explosive devices found in the trunk.

The pair were charged with illegally transporting explosives after deputies found what were thought to be pipe bombs in their trunk during a traffic stop on Aug. 4 near Goose Creek, S.C. In addition, Mohamed has been charged in an indictment with trying to help terrorists by demonstrating the use of explosives.

Pizzo wrote in a 14-page report that deputies had probable cause for their actions: stopping the car for speeding and brief questioning of the defendants. Mohamed, the driver, consented to the search, Pizzo noted, and he concluded there were legitimate reasons to be suspicious of the pair.

But defense attorneys wrote in objections to Pizzo's recommendation that the evidence does not support the South Carolina deputy's contention that Mohamed was speeding. They filed the objections Thursday.

The attorneys say the judge incorrectly minimized racist statements made by law enforcement officers involved in the traffic stop.

Mohamed's attorneys, Lyann Goudy and Linda Moreno, note that Deputy Lamar Blakely testified he suspected the car could be involved in drug trafficking because it had a Florida license plate. Yet, they note, there was no evidence on the recording of the stop that Blakely or other deputies mentioned drugs.

"He never calls for a K-9 unit to respond," the defense filing states. "Instead, from the moment that he and Deputy [Andy] Taylor walk back to his patrol car, look at each other and discuss that the defendants had Korans on their laps, all that he seems concerned with is the fact that they are 'damn terrorists.' The comments made by these two deputies are not just crass ethnic comments; they are vile racist comments.

"They take us back to the days when it was common in some southern towns, at the time referred to as sunset towns, to see bill boards and signs warning African Americans, '… don't let the sun set on you in this town.' In those days, a black person's presence along the roadway in one of those towns after sunset would also not match an officer's usual roadside encounter."

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