Bomb plot suspect seeks records said crucial to case
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) - In the year before his arrest, terror suspect Mohamed Mohamud sent more than 11,000 text messages. He was watched by FBI agents, his calls were monitored, and his emails were tracked.
Now, his defense team wants records of that surveillance — records the government has said it possesses but claims it doesn't have to provide to Mohamud.
The back-and-forth played out in federal court this week with testimony and tough cross-examination of two FBI agents who headed the investigation of Mohamud that culminated in his dramatic November 2010 arrest during a Portland Christmas-tree lighting ceremony.
Prosecutors say Mohamud was attempting to detonate a bomb, though his co-conspirators were in fact undercover FBI agents and the bomb they placed at the scene and told Mohamud to detonate with a cellphone was a fake.
The fight over the records is part of a larger battle the defense is waging as it seeks to keep certain statements made by Mohamud from a jury during a trial scheduled for January.
On Wednesday, former FBI agent Chris Henderson testified that he didn't recall many aspects of the investigation leading to the arrest, including details about a day in June 2010 when Mohamud was turned away from an Alaska Airlines flight at Portland International Airport.
The FBI was watching the whole time, Henderson testified, and agents took that opportunity to interview Mohamud and his parents.
Federal public defender Steve Wax asked Henderson whether he remembered assembling a report in anticipation of the airport encounter — something the defense would request if it could confirm its existence. Henderson said he didn't remember doing so.
"Two years ago, no recall," Wax said.
"That's correct," Henderson replied.
"This is precisely the type of concern that we have," Wax then told U.S. District Court Judge Garr King.
Wax said in court that the government has only provided about 1,000 of the 11,000 text messages sent by Mohamud.
King should review those documents and thousands of others that the defense believes exist concerning the investigation of Mohamud and determine whether any would be helpful to the defense, the lawyer said.
King appeared noncommittal.
"The government is saying, we know what our obligations are," King said. "There's problems here when you believe there is or should be documents."
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Reach reporter Nigel Duara on Facebook at http://on.fb.me/UKvVDo
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press.
who will prosecute the nuttiest Fed. agents for cultivating and encouraging the worst in a young man? Â This case, as with many others, show that there seems to be a lack of genuine 'terror'....so let's go make some. Â
 @cheekygesturton I have a similar problem with so called prostitution sting operations, where a "sexy female cop" solicits business from driver bys. "How does 75$ sound to you?" The only thing you prove is that these people are easy to be manipulated and may have a faulty moral compass. Did they have true intent? Or did they actually have doubts and needed someone to affirm? Punishing intent is a real slippery slope. Have you ever heard yourself saying "oh I could kill these construction workers making so much noise all day long"? Does it mean you really have the intent? Course not. A little bit like a big mouthed kid that says "i wanna do something big and blow up a whole bunch of people. Then I will be famous". Will this kid actually do it? Not likely, unless you help and encourage him. Not saying we should ignore warning signs, or not prevent bad things from happening, but we must be careful not to become prisoners of our own safety.Â
@cheekygesturton -- I'm generally not a 'conspiracy theorist' but I really found myself thinking the same thing when this story was first reported. The kid made some stupid choices and he should be put into counseling or...something... I don't know. I think it says a lot though that the FBI had to coax him into action before making the arrest. It wasn't enough to just observe and then move in once there was a genuine threat.