Explosives trial moved to April 28

TAMPA -- The explosives trial for Youssef Megahed and Ahmed Mohamed will begin on April 28, a federal judge ruled today.

The suspended University of South Florida students were scheduled to stand trial Monday before U.S. District Judge Steven Merryday. But defense attorneys had filed a motion for a continuance.

Linda Moreno, Mohamed's attorney for less than a month, cited her short tenure on the case in asking Merryday to reset the trial date.

Moreno said she needs more time to review evidence in the case and consult with explosives experts and a computer analyst busy combing through two hard drives.

Merryday also acknowledged that U.S. Magistrate Judge Mark Pizzo is still considering a recommendation on a defense motion to suppress evidence.

Defense attorneys argued that a South Carolina sheriff's deputy improperly detained Megahed, 21, and Mohamed, 26, when he stopped them Aug. 4 in Goose Creek, S.C., for speeding and searched their car after he became suspicious. Lyann Goudie, one of Mohamed's attorneys, said that Mohamed never gave his consent for Berkeley County sheriff's Cpl. James Lamar Blakely to search the vehicle.

The defense wants Pizzo to recommend to Merryday that anything seized during Blakely's search be thrown out as evidence.

When Blakely searched the car, he found a partial box of .22-caliber bullets beneath a car seat, and in the trunk he found what experts described as low-grade explosives.

The FBI says the men were carrying pipes stuffed with fertilizer, Karo syrup, kitty litter and fuses.

Megahed and Mohamed say they were traveling with sugar rockets.

Both men have been charged with illegally transporting explosive materials. Mohamed faces an additional charge of demonstrating how to make an explosive device.

Megahed and Mohamed have remained in custody since their August arrest. Mohamed has never asked for bail. Megahed's request for bail was denied on an appeal.

His attorneys have again asked Merryday to release him pending trial, saying that an FBI report on the materials in the trunk show the mixture was not as harmful as prosecutors initially alleged.

Moreno, who represented Sami Al-Arian at his terrorism-related trial, wants Merryday to allow the use of a jury questionnaire similar to one she wrote that U.S. District Judge James S. Moody Jr. allowed for Al-Arian's trial.

Moreno and Adam Allen, Megahed's public defender, said a questionnaire is necessary because the case has been highly publicized, locally and abroad, and people have already formed opinions.

Merryday has not ruled on whether to allow the additional questions, saying that he conducts one of the "most thorough" jury questioning of any judge at the federal courthouse.

"One thing you don't have to worry about is I'm not going to let any defendant in my court be tried by a biased jury," Merryday said.

- Kevin Graham, Times staff writer