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The following write-up on the Coronado trial was forwarded by Ben
Rosenfeld, but not authored by him:<br><br>
<br>
September 12, 2007 Update from Rod Coronado Trial<br><br>
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.<br><br>
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?<br><br>
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.<br><br>
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.<br><br>
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.<br><br>
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.<br><br>
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.<br><br>
<br>
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