“Don't do that, my baby, don't do that!” The woman told to the child, and then turned back to the assistant and said:“I'm very sorry, please excuse him. He has just been to the zoo.”
Judge Gettleman said he accepted the defense depiction of Hassoun as a uniquely gullible youth and that an informant may have been eager to please his FBI handlers by leading him on though he said that was no excuse for Hassoun's crime.