Megahed's immigration trial set for August




By TOM BRENNAN

Published: May 29, 2009

TAMPA - A federal immigration judge in Miami today set an Aug. 17 trial date for Youssef Megahed.

Charles Kuck, Megahed's attorney, said prosecutors told the judge it would take five days to present their case.

"That is an eternity in the immigration world," he said.

Kuck said prosecutors said none of the evidence they would use was presented during Megahed's federal criminal trial in Tampa earlier this year; a claim Kuck said he found hard to believe.

The immigration charges allege Megahed affiliated with and supported terrorist activity. The government is seeking to have him deported, even though a federal jury acquitted him of explosives charges in April after three days of deliberation.

Prosecutors were given until July 7 to submit their list of witnesses and the evidence they will rely on during the immigration trial. The judge gave Kuck until Aug. 7. Both sides were told to submit a statement of the burden of proof for the court to consider by July 17.

"We are heartened by the fact we will have a relatively quick hearing," Kuck said of the August trial date. "We are disheartened that Youssef remains incarcerated over charges for which he has long been cleared."

Megahed was arrested in August 2007 in South Carolina after a traffic stop. Deputies said they found explosives in the trunk of the car in which he was riding with his friend, Ahmed Mohamed.

Both were University of South Florida students at the time.

Mohamed later pleaded guilty to helping terrorists by posting a video on YouTube showing how to use a remote-control toy to detonate a bomb. He was sentenced to 15 years in federal prison.

Megahed's public defenders maintained he didn't know about the items in the trunk, which they said were homemade model rocket motors, not explosives.

Megahed, 23, was acquitted April 3. Three days later, he was arrested by immigration agents.

Born in Egypt, Megahed has lived in the United States with his family since he was a child and had a pending application for citizenship.


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