... Guiberson, in fact, was one of the few lawyers anywhere who
specialized in tape-recorded evidence.
In the three and a half months between the indictments and the
pretrial hearings, Guiberson reviewed all 914 reelsmore than 1,000 hoursof
government tape. Using linguistic experts and computers, he made his own transcripts,
which differed significantly from the government version. The equipment and techniques
used by Guiberson were considerably more sophisticated than those used by the Justice
Department, and the results showed. Sometimes the differences were small variations of
punctuation or emphasis. And sometimes they were enormous. In one place where government
technicians had transcribed Joe Chagra saying, "Kill him, kill him," he had
actually said, "Get them, get them." Warren Burnett, a lawyer who was seldom
impressed by the work of a colleague, was euphoric when he spoke of Guiberson. "What
he's doing is unique," Burnett said. "No one else in the country is even close.
The prosecution is still in the horse-and-buggy era compared to the defense's
tapes."