High-profile lawyer to defend USF student
One student pleads not guilty, but the other's hearing is delayed at the attorney's request.
By KEVIN GRAHAM, Times Staff Writer
Published October 4, 2007
TAMPA - One suspended University of South Florida student pleaded not guilty Wednesday to illegally transporting explosives, while a second made plans to hire a prominent Tampa lawyer.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Mark A. Pizzo accepted the "notguilty" plea of Youssef Megahed, 21. He postponed a hearing for fellow student Ahmed Mohamed, 26, until Oct. 17, when he is expected to also plead not guilty. The delay came at the request of defense attorney John Fitzgibbons, who is finalizing arrangements to represent Mohamed.
Meanwhile, the strain of the case is weighing on Megahed's father, Samir Megahed, 60, who said he suffered a heart attack about 10 days ago.
"I am under big stress," he said. "What can you say if your son is in jail and the evidence against him is nothing? What is the evidence?"
At a hearing in September, prosecutors did lay out some of the evidence, including that when they were arrested in South Carolina they had items experts categorized as low-grade pipe bombs, as well as fuses and a laptop in which Mohamed talks of turning a toy into a detonator.
Megahed wants his son's case separated from Mohamed's, because he said the charges against his son aren't as serious.
Adding to the Megahed family's woes is the death Monday of Samir Megahed's 68-year-old brother in Egypt. Samir Megahed said he can't be there because he's hoping his son will be released on bail Friday.
As a condition of Youssef Megahed's bail, his family had to give up its passports. A judge has said he could be released on $200,000 bail, but prosecutors objected. U.S. District Judge Steven D. Merryday will listen to those objections during a 1:30 p.m. hearing Friday.
Meanwhile, Fitzgibbons, a high-profile Tampa lawyer, asked for more time to enter Mohamed's plea so he can finish arrangements with Egyptian Embassy officials hiring him to represent Mohamed.
Fitzgibbons, a former federal prosecutor, had talked often with reporters about the case before his involvement. But he was guarded as he spoke on the courthouse steps after Megahed's arraignment.
"I have not had a chance to look at the evidence," he said. "There's always two sides to every story, and I've already seen a different side to the story than what's been presented. But that's why we have trials, and that's why we have juries to evaluate the evidence."
In previous interviews, Fitzgibbons has called the indictment of the pair bizarre. Like other lawyers who watched the case, he questioned that a terrorism statute was used in one charge against Mohamed, although the U.S. Attorney's Office says this isn't a terrorism case.
Other former federal prosecutors and lawyers familiar with federal court proceedings have said whoever represents the students can expect to spend a lot of money and time preparing for court. Some say that would be especially true for Mohamed. An Aug. 29 indictment handed up by a Tampa grand jury charges him with illegally transporting explosives and demonstrating how to make explosives.
Fitzgibbons declined to say how his perception of the charges has changed since meeting with Egyptian Embassy officials and Mohamed or explain why he decided to take the case.
Others have their own opinions about his involvement.
"It's very important that the client, the defendant, has the best possible representation," said John Lauro, a former federal prosecutor. "Now he does."
Fitzgibbons' cases often draw national attention.
Fitzgibbons helped Debra Lafave avoid jail time. She's the former Greco Middle School teacher who seduced a 14-year-old student. She received house arrest for a guilty plea.
He also represented Lawrence Storer, a Thai restaurant owner accused of hitting and killing Shantavious Wilson, 24, with his Ford Explorer after Wilson robbed him at gunpoint at his downtown Tampa restaurant. A jury found Storer not guilty of manslaughter.
And he's representing former American Idol finalist Jessica Sierra, who is set to go to trial Monday on a felony battery charge. She's accused of throwing a cocktail glass at a patronat the Hyde Park Cafe in April.
Tampa attorney Eddie Suarez said Fitzgibbons knows how to handle emotional issues in court.
"On serious matters like this particularly, where there is so much emotion that the public has on suggestions of terrorism, I think it's important that good lawyers are involved," Suarez said.
Ahmed Bedier, director of the Central Florida office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, wondered if Fitzgibbons' involvement signaled a possible plea deal for Mohamed.
"Usually if a person wants to cut a deal, Fitzgibbons is the man for it," Bedier said.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Jay Hoffer said in court that the evidence against the pair was not complex. Pizzo set a tentative trial date as early as Dec. 3. But Fitzgibbons said that's unlikely. He anticipates it taking longer to review the evidence and contact experts to testify.
Both men sat in court Wednesday, shackled at the feet and separated by their attorneys. They wore orange jumpsuits like most county jail defendants, but the beards they both have worn since their arrests were gone.
"I wouldn't read anything into that," Fitzgibbons said.
Kevin Graham can be reached at 813 226-3433 or kgraham@sptimes.com