Megahed associate on trial for student visa violation

TAMPA -- Jury selection began today for a University of South Florida graduate accused of violating his student visa by posing for a picture with a firearm in hand while visiting a gun range with Youssef Megahed.

Karim Moussaoui, 28, pleaded not guilty in January to the federal charge. Prosecutors say they have surveillance footage that shows Moussaoui at a Tampa gun range on July 19 with Megahed, holding a firearm as he posed for a photograph. Prosecutors also say they found a copy of the picture on Megahed's home computer.

Federal law prohibits people with student visas from possessing firearms.

U.S. District Judge James Whittemore and attorneys spent the morning questioning 36 potential jurors. Several said they recognized the name Moussaoui but couldn't quite place it.

A Largo man in the jury pool said he thought one of the Sept. 11, 2001, hijackers was named Moussaoui, and perhaps that was why he thought the name was familiar. Zacarias Moussaoui became the only convicted terrorist from the attacks. He is not related to Karim Moussaoui.

A Tampa man asked attorneys whether this case had anything to do with South Carolina. He wanted to know whether the charges were related to those of Megahed, 21, and Ahmed Mohamed, 26, two suspended USF students awaiting trial on explosives charges.

"Let me get counsel off the hot seat," the judge said. "That's a different case."

One potential juror questioned why a special agent for the Department of Homeland Security sat at the prosecution table if the case had nothing to do with terrorism, but a gun charge.

Another man in the jury pool said he'd have a hard time being fair because he had a close friend who had an employee die -- a clerk in the United States on a student visa -- because it was illegal for the student to have a gun at work to defend himself.

Prosecutors estimate the trial will last three to four days and could be in the hands of jurors by Thursday.

Attorneys are expected to give opening statements this afternoon.

-Kevin Graham, Times staff writer