said in An administrative error:
Wonder if Garcia will get a fair trial.
He's pleading not guilty to human trafficking.
Much of the government's testimony in support of pre-trial detention came from Homeland Security special agent Pete Joseph, who testified about his investigation into the 2022 traffic stop where Abrego Garcia was pulled over for speeding in a vehicle with eight passengers and told police they had been working construction in Missouri.
The Tennessee Highway Patrol officers ultimately issued no speeding ticket and allowed Abrego Garcia to drive on with just a warning about an expired driver's license.
As ABC News previously reported, the criminal investigation that led to the charges was launched in April as federal authorities began to scrutinize the traffic stop.
Joseph testified that law enforcement officers who pulled over the vehicle asked those in the car to write down their name, date of birth and where they were traveling to -- what was described in court as a "roster" of who was traveling in the car. One person on the roster was a 15-year-old minor, according to the list provided to law enforcement -- a piece of evidence that the government alleges proves that Abrego Garcia also transported minors.
The judge grappled with how much weight to give that information, given that the Tennessee Highway Patrol trooper wasn't in court to testify specifically about the list.
"I'm not saying to you that I'm completely discounting it," said Judge Holmes, who added that she wasn't sure she was willing to accept that because the person was a minor meant that he was a minor victim.
https://abcnews.go.com/US/kilmar-abrego-garcia-scheduled-arraigned-charges-human-smuggling/story?id=122791176
