TRAil of A TERRoRisT - Point Park University

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Jawari was convicted after a trial that lasted less than aweek. The trial judge sentenced Al-Jawari to the maximumterm of 30 years in prison (three consecutive ten-yearsentences) with a recommendation that he serve the entiresentence. However, under the federal sentencing guidelinesoperative at the time of the offense, a 30-year sentence canbe reduced with good behavior in the prison system.Now 61 years old and 16 years later, Al-Jawari has nearlycompleted his sentence and is scheduled to be releasedfrom prison in February.Throughout the entire process, as Al-Jawari changedlegal teams and transferred between different prisons,Finnegan remained the lone constant in his life. Over time,the two men developed a friendship of sorts.“It was never a hostile situation,” Finnegan said. “For us,it was professional courtesy. I was always respectful towardhim.”For several years after his conviction, Al-Jawariwould occasionally call Finnegan collect from the FederalCorrectional Institution where he was lodged. However,after Al-Jawari’s transfer to the United States SupermaxFederal Prison in Florence, Colo., all telephonic contactceased. Finnegan is not aware of Al-Jawari’s post-prisonplans.While Al-Jawari may have been the highest profilecriminal in Finnegan’s arrest portfolio, he was one of manycaptured in the illustrious FBI career of a man who at onetime thought his poor vision would preclude him frompursuing law enforcement as a vocation.After all, Finnegan had been rejected for employmentby a number of local police departments before he decidedto enroll in law school at the University of Pittsburgh.Nonetheless, when the FBI sent a recruiter to Pitt, he wentto hear her speak. The recruiter was a former Catholic nun,and that piqued Finnegan’s curiosity.Photograph by Karen MeyersWhen the recruiter listedoff the bureau’s physicalfitness requirements, Finneganrealized that, with correctedvision, he would qualify. Then,he had a question for her.“I was sort of a smartaleck,so I asked her how an ex-nuncould possibly meet thoserequirements,” he said.She showed him, droppingto the ground to do pushups,and thus began Finnegan’s20-year FBI odyssey. His worktook him to Wisconsin, WestVirginia and eventually backto Pittsburgh in addition tohis tenure in New York, and hepursued cases ranging frompublic corruption to gangviolence.When Finnegan retiredfrom the bureau in 2004, hewas ready for a new adventure.He tried his hand at writingscreenplays and televisionshows, and while some ofthem garnered interest inPhotograph by Karen MeyersHollywood, nothing ever cameto fruition. A few years intohis retirement, a chance encounter led him to Point Park.Finnegan was on his way home from the gym one daywhen ran into an acquaintance who was on the Point Parkfaculty and encouraged him to think about coming on boardas an adjunct professor. The idea wasn’t a completely foreignone for Finnegan.“My wife always told me I should teach, so I told him Iwould go in for an interview. They gave me the job,” he said.The following semester, he landed a full-time facultyposition at the school and is now on the tenure track. Heteaches undergraduate and graduate courses, along with apopular course on federal test-taking.The opportunity turned out to be a perfect one forFinnegan, whose passion for his work becomes clearlyevident within the first few minutes of a conversation withhim.“I love my students,” Finnegan said. “I respect and admirethem for trying as hard as they can, and I do my best toprepare them as well as I can.”His real-world experience in law enforcement is aparticularly valuable asset to his work in the classroom,noted Karen S. McIntyre, dean of the School of Arts andSciences.16 www.pointpark.edu
Cold CaseCrime SceneComes to Life“I love mystudents,”Finnegan said.“I respect andadmire them fortrying as hardas they can, andI do my best toprepare them aswell as I can.”“Professor Finnegan knows what kinds of competencieswill be expected of his students, and he stays verywell-connected,” McIntyre said. “He is able to keep thecoursework real and relevant to the students.“He’s also able to use examples from his professionalcareer to show why they need to succeed even in coursesthat aren’t related to their major.”Finnegan puts a great deal of effort into staying currentand keeping abreast of developments in the FBI and inlaw enforcement in general. He maintains a law licenseand occassionally practices in the Pittsburgh area. He alsorecently presented a paper on pre-9/11 intelligence failuresat a conference at Oxford University in England.For criminal justice students who may find themselvestracking down terrorists or drug dealers someday,Finnegan’s classes present a healthy dose of realism andpreparation for their future careers. Even his colleaguespick up a few things from him.“You definitely read a newspaper differently after youtalk to him,” McIntyre said.For more information related to this article, visit thePoint Extras page at pointpark.edu/pointextras.Photograph by Tom BellOn Tuesday, Nov. 11, a model of the Lizzie Borden housewas unveiled by Steven Koehler, Ph.D., adjunct facultymember in the School of Arts and Sciences Department ofCriminal Justice and Intelligence Studies, in the lobby ofLawrence Hall. Students and faculty gathered to see theminiature crime scene created by David Presnell and JamesHudak, students at the Pittsburgh Art Institute. Koehlerconceptualized the replica as a teaching tool for visualand hands-on learning and collaborated with Bill Mitas,professor of industrial design at the Pittsburgh Art Institute.“This will provide a scaled version of a real crime scenewhich will make the students think of different forensicsavailable for analysis,” Koehler said. “This step-by-stepexamination of evidence allows for a unique hands-onapproach for the students.”The model of the Borden house includes furnishedbedrooms where the murders took place, bodies, bloodsplatter and removable floor levels for easy access. Themodel is a 1/12 scaled replica of the house as it was whenLizzie Borden was tried and acquitted of the stabbingdeaths of her father and stepmother in Fall River, Mass.in1892. While she was the only suspect and was in thehome at the time of the murders, there was not enoughevidence to convict Borden of the crime without modernforensic technologies.The model will be used in forensic science classes in thespring of 2009. Koehler said another collaboration with thePittsburgh Art Institute is in the works for a model of theJohn F. Kennedy assassination.www.pointpark.edu 17
Page 1: POINTTheSpr i n g 2009A MAGAZINE FO
Page 4 and 5: Letters to the EditorThank you for
Page 6 and 7: news & viewsCulturalOfferings Onlin
Page 8 and 9: news & viewsIntegratingIntelligence
Page 10 and 11: Getting Down toStudents Create Plan
Page 12 and 13: Students Photograph Youth to Increa
Page 14 and 15: BIGBy Elizabeth MayS c r e e nD r e
Page 16 and 17: New YorkPhotograph by Karen MeyersR
Page 20 and 21: Point ofViewProfessor Joan Moseyon
Page 22 and 23: Alumni ProfileProfileBy Kate Beard
Page 24 and 25: BlueprintBrightfor aFutureBy Cheryl
Page 28 and 29: Annual List of DonorsFiscal Year 20
Page 30 and 31: Dr. Freddie and Ms. Hilda FuJoseph
Page 32 and 33: Charles MeyerJacquelyn MeyerDean Mi
Page 34 and 35: Scott UngerMary UrquhartTroy Ussack
Page 36 and 37: Especially for AlumniDear Fellow Al
Page 38 and 39: Cavaliers’ Announcer Launched Car
Page 40 and 41: Point ParkAnnual FundPhone-A-ThonSe
Page 42 and 43: By Kevin TaylorDirector of Athletic
Page 44: THE POINTPOINT PARK UNIVERSITY201 W

TRAil of A TERRoRisT - Point Park University

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