NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — The line to enter the courthouse formed outside at least two hours before the hearing started in Nashville’s federal courthouse.
Once inside, there was another line filled with media and members of the public all waiting for their first glimpse of the man considered to be one of the Trump administration’s most high-profile detainees.
Chatter quickly ended when Kilmar Abrego Garcia entered the courtroom wearing an orange jumpsuit.
He appeared in high spirits shaking his attorney's hands and waving at family who made the trip to Nashville just days earlier.
Magistrate Judge Barbara D. Holmes read Abrego Garcia’s charges which include: conspiracy to unlawfully transport undocumented persons and unlawfully transporting undocumented persons.
One charge carried a penalty of 10 years in prison along with a $250,000 fine, while the other imposed a sentence of 10 years for every undocumented person prosecutors can prove Abrego Garcia illegally transported between state lines.
Abrego Garcia pleaded not guilty to all charges, and any other time, a hearing like this would take minutes.
Hardly anyone expected we would end the day hours later without a resolution.
Holmes said she would take everything under advisement and return as soon as possible with a decision on whether Abrego Garcia should be released pending trial.
Part of the reason, however, why today’s hearing may have taken as long as it did is because both sides appeared to argue their cases, knowing there’s a chance they may not have an opportunity in the future.
Prosecutor Robert McGuire brought up multiple times that Abrego Garcia still has a detention hold with the Department of Homeland Security.
This means even if Holmes ultimately decides to release Abrego Garcia pending trial, DHS would detain and deport Abrego Garcia with no expectation he would be returned for trial.
McGuire said even though either outcome could end in detention or deportation, they still believe it’s important to show the US takes these cases seriously. Especially if they involve harm to minors.
Homeland Security Special Agent Peter Joseph would be the first and only witness to take the stand but remained in his seat for roughly three hours.
Joseph told the court he was assigned around late April to investigate the 2022 Tennessee traffic stop where Abrego Garcia was pulled over by the Tennessee Highway Patrol.
He said he relied heavily on the body camera footage as evidence and pointed to Abrego Garcia telling troopers that he was traveling from St. Louis after finishing a construction job.
Joseph said his office used license plate reader technology to determine that the SUV Abrego Garcia was driving had not been anywhere near the St. Louis area in 12 months.
Instead, LPR data allegedly flagged the SUV around Houston just days before the traffic stop.
NewsChannel5 Investigates obtained the highly redacted body camera footage from the traffic stop where we only heard Abrego Garcia mention Houston, Texas, once.
That’s when Abrego Garcia told troopers that the SUV belonged to his boss, who was from Houston.
Joseph said the DHS report was not accurate, and that Abrego Garcia only told troopers he was traveling from St. Louis.
He later said he interviewed one of the troopers in the body camera footage, who was certain that Abrego Garcia was smuggling undocumented migrants.
Troopers instructed passengers in the SUV to write down their names, dates of birth, and home addresses.
Joseph said they identified that six out of the nine passengers were in the country illegally, but that the investigation was ongoing.
McGuire said the last name on the list appeared to have a birth year of 2007, meaning they were approximately 15 years old back in 2022.
They claim this proves that at least one minor was smuggled through the conspiracy, but argued that many others were also a part of several trips made by Abrego Garcia.
Joseph interviewed at least five cooperating witnesses, some of whom said Abrego Garcia smuggled not only minors but also fellow gang members and firearms.
At least one cooperating witness claimed that Abrego Garcia was affiliated with the notorious gang MS-13.
Defense attorney Richard Tennent argued that as many as four out of five cooperating witnesses were either related or had close ties to one another.
Tennent asked Joseph if their open investigation meant this was
Tennent argued that at least one cooperating witness has already negotiated their way into staying in the US longer in exchange for testifying against Abrego Garcia.
Others were in the process of requesting deferred action from deportation.
By the end of the day, defense attorney Will Allensworth began referring to cooperating witnesses as “snitches” only interested in pointing blame at Abrego Garcia in exchange for helping their family and friends.
McGuire earlier conceded that some of these cooperating witnesses were criminals only interested in making money, but said Abrego Garcia was just as involved in the conspiracy.
He claimed that Abrego Garcia was a dangerous man whose own wife took out orders of protection against him, but Tennent argued that these were the same wife and family who were there to support Abrego Garcia and asked for his return.
