Instead, the lawyers focused on the psychological path taken by Mr. Mohamud, a former college student who grew up mostly in Portland's suburbs, that led to his pushing the detonator button on the night of the planned attack.
The first U.S. Indiegogo hotel backer, Tara Grove of Canal Winchester, pushed the detonator.
Then, with the assistance of a demining team from the Cambodia Mine Action Committee (CMAC), he pushed the detonator for the controlled destruction of one anti-tank and six anti-personnel mines.
There was also CCTV of a man – left handed, similar in appearance and with the same sunglasses – appearing to push the button on a remote detonator, and mobile phone records placed Vantaggiato in the area, despite his initial claims that he was at his business as a reseller of liquefied natural gas for agricultural use.
All he had to do was unzip his bag of explosives and press the detonator.
As the men pressed in close, and some started to climb in the back, the driver pushed a detonator and the van exploded, witnesses said.
Abdul Hakim Yasin pushed the button on the remote detonator, ready for the flash and thunderclap of more than 650 pounds of explosives.
Once you are close enough to cause a lot of damage, push down on the detonator.
"When he reached the billet," Emery writes, Higgie "was finally able to slow down and ponder what had happened in that moment of pure silence just before he pushed down the plunger on the detonator.
Collins pushed past me, grabbed a large box of outgoing toilet paper, and stepped up on it to get a better look at the detonator.
