'Rocket Amateur' Testifies At Explosives Trial

Prosecutors wanted a federal explosives trial to be about terrorism; for the defense, it came down this afternoon to rocket science.

Prosecutors rested their case earlier in the day in the trial of Youssef Megahed, a former University of South Florida student charged with illegally transporting explosives.

They were not permitted to show jurors much of the terrorism-related evidence they argued would prove Megahed's intentions, along with those of Ahmed Mohamed.

Megahed and Mohamed were arrested near Goose Creek, S.C., on Aug. 4, 2007, after deputies said the two had pipe bombs in the trunk of their car. The defense maintains that the devices - which the FBI says were low explosives and not pipe bombs - were Mohamed's homemade model rockets and were placed in the trunk without Megahed's knowledge.

Attorneys have spent much of the trial arguing at sidebar over whether the prosecution could present evidence, including a video on Mohamed's laptop that prosecutors say Megahed was watching just before the traffic stop.

The video was not shown, but just before the government ended its presentation, U.S. District Judge Steven D. Merryday told jurors that the parties had stipulated that the laptop contains a 44-minute video that portrays "military-style rockets being launched by a propellant of unknown composition."

The prosecution maintains the video shows Qassam rockets being fired in the Middle East using the same chemical mixture as propellants contained in the devices found in the trunk.

Jurors also were told that the laptop contained files about acetone peroxide, a high explosive, and information about how to make the substance. There was also a folder titled "bomb shock."

Defense attorneys elicited testimony from prosecution witnesses that the laptop also contained numerous files about fireworks and bottle rockets.

Testifying this afternoon was James Yawn, an administrator at Santa Fe College in Gainesville, who said he has spent nearly 40 years making model rockets.

Yawn said he teaches a course called Rocket Science 101 and belongs to three rocketry associations, but he has no degrees or certifications in science or explosives. He has two Web sites on the subject, which he said get about 100 hits a day.

About 12 of Yawn's Web pages were found in Mohamed's laptop. Yawn said he has made more than 200 mixtures of model rocket propellant using sugar and potassium nitrate - the substances found inside the devices in the trunk.

Yawn showed the jury videos of more than a dozen experiments he did trying to replicate the devices found in the trunk, based on photographs and FBI reports.

"I'm doing my best, as a rocket amateur, to get these things to fly without exceeding what I saw in the documents," he said.

Most of Yawn's devices spewed smoke, similar to a rocket motor, but did not travel anywhere when lit.

The two best devices did take off, one for a very short distance and one for about 100 or 150 feet. Yawn said that if one of his students made those, he would give a D and a C.

Asked why anyone would make his own rocket propellant, Yawn said, "It's an incredible learning experience and very exciting to a lot of people."

Also testifying for the defense was a former road ranger, John Kuettel, who said he provided gasoline for Mohamed when he ran out of gas on Alligator Alley in May 2007. The defense has argued that Mohamed and Megahed had a partly filled gasoline can in their trunk in South Carolina because they were afraid of running out of gas again.

The prosecution maintains the gasoline could have been used to construct a destructive device.

Mohamed, also a former USF student, is serving 15 years in federal prison after pleading guilty to helping terrorists by posting on YouTube a video in which he demonstrates how to detonate a bomb with a remote-controlled toy.

Megahed, who is not charged with terrorism, faces up to 20 years in federal prison if convicted.

The trial resumes Monday.