[Ppnews] Coronado Trial Update 9-12

[Political Prisoner News]

The following write-up on the Coronado trial was forwarded by Ben 
Rosenfeld, but not authored by him:


September 12, 2007 Update from Rod Coronado Trial

The hearing opened today with the Court redacting admission of parts 
of the videotape of a speech given by Rod Coronado at American 
University in January of 2003, on the grounds that they were not 
relevant to the case.

Cross-examination of San Diego City Undercover Police Officer Tony 
Lehr then continued. Defense attorney Tony Serra, having established 
the day before that the Officer s report of the San Diego speech was 
incomplete and fragmented , was able to get officer Lehr to admit 
that the quote he attributed to a woman in the audience, one that is 
a cornerstone of the case, was actually paraphrased. Despite that 
admission, the officer repeatedly insisted that he heard the woman 
ask Rod how to build a bomb for an action?

The real bomb dropped was Tony Serra s introduction of contradictory 
evidence to Officer Lehr s sworn testimony. First introduced was the 
statement of another undercover officer who attended the event, a 
woman from the San Diego Sheriff s department, who used significantly 
different terminology in describing the question to Coronado (saying 
the woman asked how to make an incendiary device , as opposed to a 
bomb for an action). Despite this, Office Lehr stuck to his story 
that words he heard were bomb for an action. Serra then read the 
actual question posed by the woman, as he introduced the existence of 
an audio recording of the event heretofore unmentioned. It seems 
clear that the testimony of this undercover officer of 18 years, who 
has infiltrated hundreds of San Diego groups, was fabricated. Tony 
also got Lehr to admit that he followed Rod after he and another 
person drove away from the event. Officer Lehr was excused for today 
and will be recalled later.

Prosecution then brought an ATF fire investigator to the stand. Brian 
Grove was hired by the FBI to test incendiary devices described in 
the lecture given by Rod at American University, and described in an 
anonymous pamphlet called Maximum Destruction not Minimum Damage. 
Lengthy testimony about these tests as well video documentations of 
them informed all about the mechanics of these particular 
devices.  Defense attorney Omar Figueroa cross-examined the witness 
to determine that his tests did not include tests of the same device 
that was described by Rod in his speech in San Diego, for which he is 
being tried.

Prosecution then introduced the entire recording of the American 
University speech by Rod, personal writings of Rod s seized from his 
computer in the raid of his home on February 22, 2006, as well as 
excerpt from an interview by Ed Bradley with Rod on 60 Minutes.

The final witness for the prosecution was Officer Kelly Stewart from 
the San Diego Sheriffs Department, who, in an undercover capacity was 
assigned to monitor Rod s speech in San Diego on August 1, 
2003.  Much of Stewart s testimony completely contradicted the 
testimony of Officer Lehr, including: where the officers were sitting 
in the audience, whether the woman who asked the question to Rod was 
sitting or standing, whether there were multiple police agencies 
involved, whether Stewart and Lehr had coordinated their 
investigations of the event, and most significantly, the actual 
wording of the question, for which Rod is on trial.  More 
contradictions and misrepresentations are expected to come out when 
Officer Lehr is recalled in the morning.

Court recessed early today in order for Counsel and the Court to work 
on Jury instructions. The prosecution is expected to rest its case 
Thursday morning, and there is a chance that the Defense would finish 
by late in the day on Thursday, which would result in Jury 
deliberations on Friday. If closing arguments do not finish on 
Thursday, the case will go to the jury on Monday, Sept. 17.



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