Because of the court secrecy in the case, it is not known precisely why Judge Sand ordered the suppression of the statement of the one defendant, Mohamed Rashed Daoud al-'Owhali, the man who was interrogated in that Nairobi room.
Based on the store's records and the statements of some defendants, investigators estimate at least 600 of those weapons were smuggled to Mexico.
The Post adds that Gibbs had already served three previous tours and, according the the statements of other defendants, confided to his new mates that it had been easy for him to get away with "stuff" when he served in Iraq.
The principal evidence considered was sworn statements of the defendants during their plea agreement process before the federal court.
In seeking the suppression of the statement, the defendant, Mamdouh Mahmud Salim said in a three-page affidavit that he gave a statement to American interrogators in Germany only after he was deprived of food, asthma medication and a lawyer.
hearsay exception for the statement of an agent of the defendant, holding that the doctrine should be the same in civil and criminal cases.
"I think you have to assume that the critical part for the defendant was the admission and statement of regret".
But, as the Judge put it, "the State cannot establish a conspiracy by the alleged statements of the individual defendants alone".
Defendant Matthew de Grood, 24, through an agreed statement of facts, admitted he stabbed the five victims to death.
Such an admission would relieve the defendant of the need to submit a formal statement of denial and would typically result in less than the maximum penalty.
