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USF Grad's Gun Trial Hinges On Definition

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By ELAINE SILVESTRINI | The Tampa Tribune

Published: March 31, 2008

Updated: 03/31/2008 06:14 pm

TAMPA -- Whether Karim Moussaoui possessed a gun in violation of his student visa all depends on the definition of "possess," his lawyer told a federal jury Monday.

The Moroccan citizen who was in the United States on a visa while he attended the University of South Florida went to a shooting range in July with two friends and spent 2 1/2 minutes posing for pictures holding a gun, defense attorney Deann Athan said.

One of the friends was Youssef Megahed, who is facing trial on an unrelated charge that he and another former USF student, Ahmed Mohamed, illegally transported explosives. Megahed and Mohamed, both Egyptians, were arrested in South Carolina in August. Mohamed was not at the shooting range the day Moussaoui is accused of holding the 22-caliber rifle.

"You're here because of that simple word, possess, and what it really means in a legal sense," Athan told jurors in her opening statement for Moussaoui's trial. It's about, she said, "a single moment in time."

Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert Monk said he will prove Moussaoui was in the United States on a student visa and that he had the gun in his possession in violation of the visa. The first prosecution witness was Robert J. Lorenz, an agent for U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement, who testified as to the status of Moussaoui, who had been in the country since 1999.

Monk said he also will show photos and videos showing Moussaoui at the range.

Athan told jurors he was preparing to graduate with three engineering degrees and return home to work in the family business when he was arrested in December. He was allowed to graduate despite the arrest. The day he was at the range with his friends, Athan said, Moussaoui spent most of the time hanging out, looking around and taking photos.

Athan maintained that the weapon was never in Moussaoui's legal possession because he was not free to leave with it or carry it out of a specified area. The gun range, she said, was in possession of the rifle.

James S. Patrick, general manager and owner of the Shoot Straight Tampa range on Route 301, testified that Megahed rented a gun on July 19, and fired the gun at the range. Patrick testified that there is a sign at the entrance telling people not to take photos.

Patrick spent much of his testimony reviewing grainy surveillance video of the men at the shooting range.

Lawyers spent most of the day Monday selecting a jury. The 14-member panel wound up including an immigrant from the United Kingdom, a retired pest control technician, a baker, a window and door manufacturer and a retired school teacher.

Lawyers tried to navigate the problem of determining whether jurors were biased because of publicity in the Mohamed and Megahed case without giving jurors information about the case. One man asked whether this case had something to do with South Carolina and students from USF. "That's a different case," U.S. District Judge James D. Whittemore said.

Another man said the name Megahed upset him. "The name and what I know about it stirs anger within me," he said. "I'd just have a hard time dismissing that." That man was not selected for the jury.

Others who didn't make it onto the jury included a USF freshman and a woman who described herself as a born-again Christian and said she took a class on the Muslim religion and said some things in the Quran "scare me." She added, "I hate being biased."

Another man who didn't become a juror said, "I just think that the Islamic faith has a bit more problems with using violence to achieve its aims to an extent you don't see in other religions."

Another man said he had problems with a law that prevents immigrants from having guns. He said he was friends with an Iranian woman whose brother was in this country and was killed during a robbery. "He wasn't allowed to have a gun," the man said. "I just don't understand the reason for the law. The man was legal. He was doing things right. He wasn't allowed to protect himself."

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

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

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