Mohsen, already jailed as a flight risk following perjury charges, was accused in a superseded indictment filed July 27 of attempted witness tampering, solicitation to commit murder, and solicitation to commit arson. His brother Aly, who faces along with Amr Mohsen the original charges of perjury, mail fraud, and obstruction of justice, also appeared for the August 4 arraignment and entered not guilty pleas.

Amr Mohsen's lawyer, John Williams, said the arraignment was supposed to take place before judge Phyllis Hamilton, but she recused herself from the case. "Then the entire bench of the Northern District recused themselves, and we had no judge," he said. Williams said the case is now assigned to a senior magistrate in Sacramento, Judge William Shubb, with an initial appearance tentatively set for August 12.

Williams also said that the issue of Amr Mohsen's competency to stand trial has yet to be resolved. This question was brought before Judge William Alsup well before the superseded indictment was issued, Williams said. Mohsen could be ruled incompetent to stand trial if he is unable to understand the proceedings against him or unable to cooperate with counsel.

Williams noted that the magistrate will also need to decide whether he can continue to represent Mohsen, or whether a "conflict" exists that would prevent that. Williams said he thought there could be a conflict, but declined to elaborate further.

Mohsen's legal troubles began when Mentor Graphics licensed an Aptix patent in 2000 in an unsuccessful attempt to sue Quickturn Design Systems for patent violation. The patent was ruled unenforceable, and although that judgment was later changed, Amr and Aly Mohsen were charged with perjury due to allegedly falsifying engineering notebooks.

Amr Mohsen resigned from Aptix in April after his imprisonment following an apparent attempt to flee the country.