Judge Orders Government to Stop Making Prejudicial Public Statements about Abrego Garcia

Federal District Court Judge Waverly D. Crenshaw ordered the federal government to stick to court rules in regard to public statements that could taint a jury in the trial of Kilmar Abrego Garcia on human smuggling charges.

Abrego Garcia was deported to the CECOT prison in El Salvador without due process and against an immigration judge’s order that if ever deported, he must not be returned to his native El Salvador. Federal officials resisted court orders, including one from the Supreme Court. to retrieve him and provide due process. They obtained deadline delays in order to concoct federal charges of human smuggling against him based on a traffic stop in Tennessee. Crenshaw is hearing the case in his court.

Crenshaw ordered “all counsel are expected to comply with the Local Rules of this Court,” and in particular the court requires “compliance with local criminal rule 2.01.”

That rule sets limits on information and comments issued by lawyers in relation to criminal trials. The rule says that outside the court, attorneys involved in a criminal case  “must not make an extrajudicial statement (other than a quotation from or reference to public records) that the lawyer knows or reasonably should know will be disseminated by public communication, and will have a substantial likelihood of materially prejudicing an adjudicative proceeding in the matter, including especially that will interfere with a fair trial.”

Federal officials have been using inflammatory language in public statements about Abrego Garcia such as but not limited to “gangbanger,” “monster,” “illegal predator,” and “barbarian.” They know the court’s rules and have not been adhering to them. Crenshaw’s order warns them to stop that behavior.

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