Tampabay: USF students listen to Aisenberg tapes

They did not impress a group of University of South Florida students who listened to three of them. They said they couldn't hear much of anything on the tapes.

Even after being told the government's version of what was on them, most of the students said they didn't hear anything incriminating.

"I cannot believe they used tapes like these to help indict someone," said Dave Zegel, a senior majoring in criminology. "I guess you could force yourself to hear anything if you wanted to hear it."

The tapes are the product of the government's electronic surveillance of Steve and Marlene Aisenberg, whose home was bugged after their 5-month-old daughter, Sabrina, disappeared in 1997.

The government's case imploded a year ago after a federal magistrate judge said four of the 12 tapes he reviewed were unintelligible. On the others, he said, detectives recklessly took statements out of context or distorted their meaning.

Aisenberg attorney Barry Cohen, who has pushed for years to have the tapes released, had counted on the public having the same reaction as the USF students.

He said that only if they listened to the tapes would people believe that the case wasn't dismissed on a technicality or because of slick lawyering.

"That's not the case," he said at a news conference. "The case was dismissed because there was absolutely no evidence on those tapes to support one allegation, much less all of the allegations in the indictment."

Sheriff's officials and federal prosecutors have not backed away from their version of what the Aisenbergs said. They continue to consider the couple the chief suspects in their daughter's disappearance.

The Aisenbergs reported Sabrina missing from their Valrico home on Nov. 24, 1997. Investigators quickly obtained a judge's permission to bug their home. The eavesdropping lasted for almost three months.

A grand jury indicted the Aisenbergs in 1999 on charges of conspiracy and making false statements. At the time, the prosecutors said the tapes contained incriminating statements, but did not play them publicly.

It soon became apparent that the tapes had problems.

The government, for example, wrote that Marlene said, "What if they check the shed?" The defense had it, "What if you think they said?" Detectives also admitted that they confused the word "abusing" for the word "immunity."

At one point, U.S. District Judge Steven Merryday called 32 tapes the prosecutors wanted to introduce at trial "largely inaudible." Audio experts from both sides came up with wildly divergent transcripts of the conversations.

But the government insisted there were numerous statements on the tapes that leave little doubt that the Aisenbergs were involved in Sabrina's disappearance.

The USF students listened Wednesday to three of the most incriminating.

First they heard a one-minute segment that the government said contained Steve lamenting, "I wish I hadn't harmed her. It was the cocaine."

The USF students said they could hear the couple talking about something but could not make out much more than "clean the table" and "I didn't say anything." None of the five students heard the word cocaine.

Three of the students were then given transcripts of what the government said was on the tape, including the comment about cocaine.

Two of the students said they might have heard the word cocaine but that it could have been a different word. With help from the transcript, one said she could hear, "I wish I hadn't harmed her." Even with the transcript, John Smehyl said he couldn't hear the word cocaine or the other statement.

"It makes no sense to say anything about cocaine and harming her between a conversation about a card and a birthday party," said Smehyl, 24.

The next excerpt was Marlene allegedly telling Steve: "The baby's dead and buried! It was found dead because you did it! The baby's dead no matter what you say -- you just did it."

None of the students heard that statement after listening three times. One heard the word "baby." None of the others could make out a single word in the minutelong excerpt.

After being told what the government said was on the tape, Emily Grossman said she could hear "the baby's dead and buried." The other students said they still couldn't say for sure that they heard the statement.

Some audio experts believe that listeners will hear whatever they are reading or what they are told to hear, no matter if it is really on the tapes. It's sometimes refered to as the McGurk effect, named after Harry McGurk, a Scottish-born psychologist.

"I would never have heard it unless I was told what to hear," said Grossman, 22. "It seems like whatever you are told to hear, you will end up hearing."

The last statement the students listened to was Marlene allegedly telling Steve, "I hate you, I hate what you did to our tiny daughter."

Once again, none of the students could hear the statement until they were told what to listen for. They described the excerpt as "completely inaudible" and "totally mumbled."

After being told what to listen for, two of the students said they could hear the statement near the end of the one-minute excerpt. One said she thought it was closer to the middle.

Sarah Gurley, 22, asked how the investigators came up with a transcript in the first place. She said if she were a judge, she would have thrown out the tapes.

"The quality of the tapes was way too poor to use as any type of evidence," she said.

-- Times staff writer Bill Varian contributed to this report. Contact Graham Brink at (813) 226-3365 or brink@sptimes.com.

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