Opinion ID: 168214
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: The FBI investigation

Text: The New M exico police eventually turned over the case to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). After receiving another M iranda warning, M r. Norw ood said he had no idea why the FBI agent was interview ing him. He told the agent that he was learning how to drive a truck, and that one day while in a supermarket, he bumped into M r. Chehadeh and they struck up a friendship. M r. Norwood said that he asked M r. Chehadeh if he would teach him how to drive a truck, and that M r. Chehadeh agreed. A few days later, M r. Chehadeh called M r. Norwood and told M r. Norwood to meet him on July 4, 2004. M r. Norwood stated that he was unaware of the details of the trip to Georgia. He did say, however, that he met his cousin, Reverend Byrd, som ew here on the road in Georgia. M r. Norwood did not know where they went from Georgia but understood that at some point they were in Texas. M r. Norwood -6- told the agent he never got out of the truck except to go to the bathroom and to eat. He said he did not know what happened in Phoenix, and that he never got out of the truck in Phoenix. He said he did not know what was in the truck and denied any involvement with any of the packages inside the truck. W hen the FBI agent told M r. Norwood that he was going to fingerprint every package, M r. Norwood said he remembered loading some of the packages, but denied knowing anything more. The fingerprints found on the packages did not match M r. Norwood’s. M r. Norwood told the agent that he mostly stayed in the back of the truck during the trip. He stated that he did not help fill out the logbook, and he did not otherw ise help load or unload the truck. The FBI agent did not believe M r. Norw ood’s version of events and terminated the interview. About three days after M r. Norwood’s arrest, another FBI agent, Oscar Ramirez, fingerprinted M r. Norwood. Agent Ramirez indicated that M r. Norwood blurted out “that he was scared, [and] that he had been forced into doing it.” Id. vol. II, at 60. Apparently, M r. Norwood remarked that someone in his family had cancer, and that he “knew what those blocks were, . . . but [he] just had to do it.” Id. at 60-61. Toward the end of the encounter, M r. Norwood broke down and started crying. He said that during the last three days, “he had talked to God and that God had told him to do the right thing.” Id. at 61. M r. Norwood was very -7- emotional and hugged the agent. Id. Agent Ramirez testified he became concerned because he was wearing his duty weapon, so he pushed M r. Norwood away and told the case agent, Agent Steve Chambers, what he had learned. Agent Chambers then had M r. Norwood step into an interview room, and began questioning him about the information Agent Ramirez had relayed to him. Although M r. Norwood was still visibly upset, he told Agent Chambers that he did not know what he was talking about.