DATE=8/6/97
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
NUMBER=2-218209
TITLE=TERRORIST TRIAL DEFENSE (L-O)
BYLINE=BARBARA SCHOETZAU
DATELINE=NEW YORK
CONTENT=
VOICED AT: 

INTRO: IN FEDERAL COURT IN NEW YORK TODAY (WEDNESDAY), DEFENSE 
LAWYERS QUESTIONED KEY EVIDENCE OFFERED BY THE PROSECUTION IN THE
SECOND DAY OF THE TRIAL OF TWO MEN CHARGED WITH THE 1993 BOMBING 
OF NEW YORK'S WORLD TRADE CENTER. CORRESPONDENT BARBARA SCHOETZAU
REPORTS.

TEXT: THE GOVERNMENT CHARGES THAT DEFENDANT RAMZI YOUSEF WAS THE 
ARCHITECT OF THE PLAN TO BLOW UP THE TRADE CENTER COMPLEX. 
CO-DEFENDANT EYAD ISMOIL (AY-AD IS MOW EEL) ALLEGEDLY DROVE THE 
VAN CONTAINING THE BOMB AND PARKED IT IN THE WORLD TRADE CENTER'S
GARAGE, WHERE IT DETONATED SHORTLY AFTER NOON ON FEBRUARY 26TH, 
1993.  

THE PROSECUTION SAYS IT CAN PROVE MR. YOUSEF MADE THE BOMB BY 
LINKING TRACES OF A COMPOUND, UREA NITRATE, FOUND IN RESIDUE FROM
THE WORLD TRADE CENTER BOMB AND IN A SHED MR. YOUSEF RENTED IN 
NEARBY NEW JERSEY. THE DEFENSE LAWYERS HAVE SAID THEY WILL 
QUESTION THE PRESENCE OF UREA NITRATE AS A COMPONENT OF THE BOMB.

DURING CROSS-EXAMINATION, DEFENSE LAWYER LOU AIDALA (EYE-DAL'-AH)
QUESTIONED THE HEAD OF THE WORLD TRADE CENTER, CHARLES MAKISH, AT
LENGTH CONCERNING BATHROOMS IN THE COMPLEX. MR. MAKISH SAID MANY 
OF THE BATHROOMS IN THE COMPLEX WERE DESTROYED BY THE BOMB, 
SPEWING WASTE -- INCLUDING UREA -- THROUGHOUT THE WRECKAGE. 

SPEAKING WITH REPORTERS AFTERWARD, MR. AIDALA SAID HE BELIEVES 
THE GOVERNMENT WILL NOT BE ABLE TO PROVE WHAT COMPONENTS MADE UP 
THE EXPLOSIVE DEVICE.  

                      //// AIDALA ACT ////

         I BROUGHT OUT BY MY CROSS EXAMINATION WHAT WILL BE 
         CLEAR, THE CONTAMINATION. IN OTHER WORDS, BY VIRTUE OF 
         THE WASTE PIPES RUPTURING, SPEWING URINE AND WHATEVER 
         ELSE WAS FLUSHED DOWN THOSE PIPES, ANY CHEMICAL TESTING 
         WHICH WOULD DISCLOSE THE PRESENCE OF UREA WOULD NOT LEAD
         TO A CONCLUSION THAT IT CAME FROM A BOMB MADE UP IN PART
         OF UREA BECAUSE THE UREA COULD VERY EASILY HAVE BEEN 
         CAUSED BY THE WASTE PRODUCTS. 

                        //// END ACT ////

PRIOR TO THE TRIAL, DEFENSE LAWYERS ASKED PRESIDING JUDGE KEVIN 
DUFFY  NOT  TO ALLOW THE UREA NITRATE TO BE ADMITTED AS EVIDENCE.
THEY CITED A CONTROVERSY OVER THE GOVERNMENT LABORATORY THAT 
ANALYZED THE EVIDENCE. A SCIENTIST FROM THE LABORATORY SAID THE 
LABORATORY'S INITIAL REPORT THAT UREA NITRATE WAS PRESENT IN THE 
BOMB COULD  NOT  BE SCIENTIFICALLY PROVED.  JUDGE DUFFY DECIDE TO
ALLOW THE EVIDENCE TO BE ADMITTED TO THE TRIAL. 

IN EARLIER TESTIMONY, WORLD TRADE CENTER DIRECTOR MAKISH DETAILED
THE WRECKAGE CAUSED BY THE BOMB. HE SAID THE EXPLOSION COST MORE 
THAN A HALF-BILLION DOLLARS IN DAMAGES. FOUR OF THE SIX PEOPLE 
KILLED WERE EMPLOYEES OF THE TRADE CENTER.

                       //// REST OPT ////

PHOTOGRAPHS OF THE PEOPLE KILLED BY THE EXPLOSION WERE SHOWN TO 
THE JURY DESPITE PROTESTS FROM DEFENSE LAWYERS, WHO SAID 
PROSECUTORS WANTED TO "ELICIT CERTAIN EMOTIONS." BUT JUDGE DUFFY 
SAID PROSECUTION LAWYERS WERE ENTITLED TO PROVE THE VICTIMS HAD 
DIED.  

FOUR OTHER MEN WERE CONVICTED OF THE BOMBING IN A SEPARATE TRIAL 
IN 1994. LAST YEAR, MR. YOUSEF AND TWO OTHER MEN WERE CONVICTED 
IN A FOILED PLOT TO BLOW UP AMERICAN AIRLINERS FLYING OVER ASIA. 
(SIGNED)

NEB/NY/BJS/LSF/RRM



06-Aug-97 4:06 PM EDT (2006 UTC)
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Source: Voice of America
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