Defense rests in Navy SEAL’s arms trafficking trial

The defense rested its case Tuesday during the trial of a Navy SEAL accused of bringing weapons into the country from Iraq and conspiring with others to sell them.

Defendant Nicholas Bickle, a petty officer first class, elected not to testify during the federal trial, which began Sept. 19 in Las Vegas.

Fellow Navy SEAL Mark Golden, also a petty officer first class, testified Tuesday and said the suggestion that a Navy SEAL could bypass customs inspections and sneak “war trophies” into the country “would be laughable if the implications weren’t so serious.”

The defense witness later described the idea as “condemnable.”

On cross-examination, Golden said he did not “even think Hollywood” would attempt to get away with such a plot.

“And I’ve been in a movie,” he added.

Both Golden and Bickle, who are based in San Diego, had parts in the 2011 movie “Transformers: Dark of the Moon.”

In response to Golden’s testimony, Assistant U.S. Attorney Timothy Vasquez handed him an AK-47, one of many entered into evidence in the case, and asked him whether he could touch it.

The witness said he could.

“It’s real?” the prosecutor asked.

Golden agreed.

“And it’s here in the United States?”

Again the witness agreed.

Vasquez later held up an MP5 machine gun and asked Golden whether he had seen one before. When the witness said he had, the prosecutor asked him where.

“In my hands when I’ve killed people with it,” the Navy SEAL replied curtly.

Golden described himself as an expert sniper.

After Vasquez posed several questions using the words “laughable” or “condemnable,” the witness bristled and said, “I prefer you don’t put words in my mouth every time you ask me a question, if that’s OK.”

Jurors also heard testimony Tuesday from former Navy SEAL Jason Cole, who shared an apartment with Bickle when the defendant was arrested in November.

Cole, now a Defense Department contractor who lives in Oklahoma, said he served as a Navy SEAL from August 2005 until August 2010.

The witness said he and Bickle went through training together and became friends. They lived together from April 2009 until December 2009 and had leased a second apartment together on Oct. 18.

Bickle was arrested Nov. 3.

“I was shocked and just in disbelief, really,” Cole said.

The witness said he knew Bickle had a storage unit and had been there multiple times. Several people other than Bickle had access to the unit, Cole said.

“He always made his storage unit available,” the witness testified.

Cole said he had no knowledge of Bickle owning or possessing any firearms.

Authorities found two pistols when they searched Bickle’s bedroom. They also found a pistol in his storage unit.

Evidence indicated all three weapons had been given to Iraqi security forces by the United States.

Golden said he, too, had visited Bickle’s storage unit.

“Yeah, it was in Nick’s name, probably, but it was a community storage unit,” the witness said.

A federal indictment charges Bickle, 33, with conspiracy to deal unlawfully in firearms and other charges. Prosecutors have described him as the conspiracy’s leader. They have said more than 70 firearms, including 30 machine guns, were sold in the conspiracy.

Three other defendants in the case, including two Las Vegas men, have accepted plea bargains. They have admitted selling machine guns and other weapons provided by Bickle, the only military member charged in the case.

Senior U.S. District Judge Roger Hunt said attorneys will present their closing arguments to the jury today.