Opinion ID: 2427524
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Kohlmann's Testimony Was Relevant

Text: Sabir's relevancy challenge to certain aspects of Kohlmann's testimony is equally unavailing. See Fed.R.Evid. 401, 403. To the extent Sabir submits that Kohlmann's testimony about terrorist activities in Saudi Arabiaderived in part from Internet sourceswas too speculative to be probative, he misses the point of that testimony. The issue for jury consideration was not whether the government could prove that al Qaeda was, in fact, responsible, for particular terrorist acts in Saudi Arabia, but whether it could reasonably be inferred that a person such as Sabir, who had lived in Saudi Arabia for a year, and who proposed to support al Qaeda's efforts there by serving as the organization's on-call doctor, would know that he was providing support to an organization that engaged in terrorism. Kohlmann's testimony as to generally available information about al Qaeda's terrorist activities in Saudi Arabia was more probative than prejudicial on this knowledge element of § 2339B. The prosecution's failure to adduce specific evidence of Sabir's familiarity with the information went to the weight of Kohlmann's testimony rather than to its admissibility. We similarly reject Sabir's relevance challenge to Kohlmann's testimony about al Qaeda training camps. Such testimony was plainly relevant to mens rea as Sabir was charged both with conspiring with Shah to provide martial arts training to mujahideen and with agreeing to be on call to treat wounded mujahideen who sustained injuries either in training or in actual al Qaeda operation[s]. GX 906T at 48.