Judge to hear arguments over whether Kilmar Abrego Garcia is being vindictively prosecuted
Kilmar Abrego Garcia (R) and his wife Jennifer Vasquez Sura (L) attend a prayer vigil before he enters a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) field office on August 25, 2025 in Baltimore, Maryland. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — A federal judge in Tennessee will hear arguments Thursday over whether the government is being vindictive in pursuing a human smuggling case against Kilmar Abrego Garcia.
The hearing comes after the judge, Waverly Crenshaw Jr., canceled the trial in the case in December and wrote in a court order that there was enough evidence to hold a hearing on the question of vindictive prosecution.
The government is currently blocked from deporting Abrego Garcia, who was released from immigration detention in December. In a separate case last week, a federal judge ruled that Immigration and Customs Enforcement cannot re-detain him because his 90-day detention period had expired and the government lacked a viable plan for his deportation.
The Salvadoran native, who had been living in Maryland with his wife and children, was deported in March to El Salvador’s CECOT mega-prison — despite a 2019 court order barring his deportation to that country due to fear of persecution. The Trump administration claimed he was a member of the criminal gang MS-13, which he and his attorneys deny.
He was brought back to the U.S. in June to face human smuggling charges in Tennessee, to which he pleaded not guilty.
After being released into the custody of his brother in Maryland pending trial, he was again detained by immigration authorities before being released in December.
John McCarthy, the state’s attorney for Montgomery County speaks during a press conference at the Montgomery County Police Department in Gaithersburg, Md., Feb. 2, 2026. (Montgomery County Police Department)
(MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Md.) — Maryland and federal authorities announced Monday that they have shut down three Indian call centers linked to a gold bar scam that stole millions of dollars from American consumers.
Authorities said the operation netted almost $50 million from more than 600 victims across the U.S. through wire transfer, cryptocurrency and gold bar schemes.
The six alleged leaders of the scheme were also arrested, authorities said.
An ABC News investigation previously found that as the value of gold surged, grifters posing as federal agents convinced people — mostly older Americans — to convert their life savings into gold bars.
As part of the scheme, scammers sent “couriers” to pick up the bars in person to allegedly keep them in a secure location.
Last year, ABC News interviewed a suspected courier from jail as he faced charges in two states for his alleged involvement in the scam. He claimed he was hired by an individual in India and paid between $800 and $4,000 per job to pick up packages, some of which contained gold bars.
John McCarthy, the Maryland state attorney for Montgomery County, announced Monday that his office had indicted 10 couriers accused of collecting money from victims, and said that several of those cases have already resulted in convictions.
“They’re targeting people who have retirement money, who have pensions, who have investments, who’ve maybe sold their homes and have that money in reserve,” McCarthy said.
Maria Corina Machado, the Venezuelan opposition figure and 2025 Nobel Peace Prize recipient, attends a press conference on December 11, 2025 in Oslo, Norway. Rune Hellestad/Getty Images
(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump is set to hold a lunch meeting with Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado at 12:30 p.m. ET Thursday, the White House said. The meeting, which is currently scheduled to be closed to press, will take place in the White House private dining room.
“She’s a very nice woman,” Trump said of Machado on Wednesday, according to Reuters. “I’ve seen her on television. I think we’re just going to talk basics.”
Trump also said Wednesday he had a “great conversation” with Venezuela’s acting President Delcy Rodríguez, their first since authoritarian Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro was seized by the U.S. on Jan. 3.
“We had a call, a long call. We discussed a lot of things,” Trump said during a bill signing in the Oval Office. “And I think we’re getting along very well with Venezuela.”
The president said last week on his social media platform that he had “cancelled the previously expected second Wave of Attacks” on Venezuela after the government released several political prisoners, but he added that “all ships will stay in place for safety and security purposes.”
Machado won the Nobel Peace Prize last year for her work “promoting democratic rights for the people of Venezuela” and her push to move the country from dictatorship to democracy.
“Machado is receiving the Nobel Peace Prize first and foremost for her efforts to advance democracy in Venezuela,” the Nobel Committee said at the time. “But democracy is also in retreat internationally. Democracy — understood as the right to freely express one’s opinion, to cast one’s vote and to be represented in elective government — is the foundation of peace both within countries and between countries.”
Machado said last week that she would like to give or share the prize with Trump, who oversaw the successful U.S. operation to capture Maduro. Maduro is now facing drug trafficking charges in New York, to which he has pleaded not guilty.
“I certainly would love to be able to personally tell him that we believe — the Venezuelan people, because this is a prize of the Venezuelan people — certainly want to, to give it to him and share it with him,” Machado told Fox News host Sean Hannity on Monday. “What he has done is historic. It’s a huge step towards a democratic transition.”
When asked earlier in January whether Machado could become the next leader of Venezuela, Trump said it would be “very tough for her” because she “doesn’t have the support or the respect within the country.”
The Norwegian Nobel Institute issued a statement last week saying that once the Nobel Peace Prize is announced, it “can neither be revoked, shared, nor transferred to others. Once the announcement has been made, the decision stands for all time.”
Machado dedicated the prize to Trump, along with the people of Venezuela, shortly after it was announced in October 2025.
“I dedicate this prize to the suffering people of Venezuela and to President Trump for his decisive support of our cause,” she said then.
Trump has coveted and openly campaigned for winning the Nobel Prize himself since his return to office. White House Director of Communications Steven Cheung slammed the Nobel Committee for its decision after Machado was announced as the most recent winner.
“[Trump] has the heart of a humanitarian, and there will never be anyone like him who can move mountains with the sheer force of his will,” Cheung said in an X post. “The Nobel Committee proved they place politics over peace.”
Jorgen Watne Frydens, the Nobel Committee chair, was asked about Trump’s “campaign” for the prize last year but denied it had any impact on the decision-making process.
“We receive thousands and thousands of letters every year of people wanting to say what, for them, leads to peace,” Frydens said. “This committee sits in a room filled with the portraits of all laureates and that room is filled with both courage and integrity. We base only our decision on the work and the will of Alfred Nobel.”
Donna Massey, the mother of shooting victim Sonya Massey, is comforted during a press conference at New Mount Pilgrim Church on July 30, 2024 in Chicago, Illinois. Scott Olson/Getty Images
(SPRINGFIELD, Ill.) — Sean Grayson, the former Sangamon County sheriff’s deputy, was sentenced on Thursday to 20 years in prison after he was convicted in October 2025 of second-degree murder for the July 2024 fatal shooting of Sonya Massey, a Black woman who called 911 to report a possible intruder at her home in Springfield, Illinois.
Judge Ryan Cadagin said that Grayson will also have a two-year mandatory supervised release and will receive credit for time served, according to Springfield ABC affiliate WICS, which was in the courtroom. He had been facing to four to 20 years in prison or probation, according to prosecutors.
Summer Massey, Sonya Massey’s daughter who was 15 when her mother was fatally shot, told reporters that she was “grateful” that Grayson received the maximum sentence.
“I’m thankful for all the love and support that everybody has came out and shown and I’m grateful that we got the maximum sentence that we could,” she said. “Twenty years is not enough, but … they did what they could do.”
Grayson spoke ahead of his hearing and apologized to Massey’s family, WICS reported.
“I wish there was something I could do to bring her back. I wish this didn’t happen. I wish they [Massey’s family] didn’t have to go through this experience. I am very sorry,” he said, according to WICS.
Addressing the judge, Grayson acknowledged that he “made a lot of mistakes” on the night Massey died, WICS reported.
“There were points when I should’ve acted, and I didn’t — I froze. I made terrible decisions that night. I’m sorry,” he reportedly said.
Massey’s mother, Donna Massey, and children delivered victim impact statements ahead of the sentencing, WICS noted.
“Today, I’m afraid to call the police in fear that I might end up like Sonya,” Donna Massey said, according to WICS.
She addressed Grayson with the same words that Sonya Massey said to the former deputy before she was fatally shot, WICS reported: “Sean Grayson, I rebuke you in the name of Jesus.”
Massey’s son Malachi also spoke.
“I had to step up at 17. I had nowhere to go or nothing. I was just lost. I’m figuring it out a little bit now, but I still need my mom … it’s like a part of me is dead,” Malachi Massey said during Thursday’s hearing, WICS reported.
Sontae Massey, Massey’s cousin, told WICS in an interview that aired ahead of the sentencing that her death “shattered” her family.
Family representatives for the Massey family told ABC News on Wednesday that the family will hold a press conference after Grayson’s sentencing hearing.
Ahead of sentencing Grayson, the judge denied on Thursday morning Grayson’s request for a new trial.
Grayson’s attorneys filed a motion for a new trial on Dec. 2, 2025, arguing that “several erroneous rulings” “resulted in prejudice to the defendant.”
The motion, which was reviewed by ABC News, cited alleged “errors” that include “incorrectly” focusing on Grayson’s “obligations as a police officer” when determining not to release him pre-trial, as opposed to “the danger he posed as a private citizen.”
Grayson’s attorneys also argued in the motion that the judge should not have admitted into evidence the body camera video that showed Grayson’s “statements and actions” after he fatally shot Massey.
Grayson’s attorneys did not respond to ABC News’ requests for comment.
Sangamon County State’s Attorney John Milhiser, who prosecuted Grayson, told ABC News on Thursday that his office filed a motion asking the judge to deny Grayson’s request for a new trial.
Body camera footage of the July 6, 2024 incident shows Grayson, who was inside Massey’s home, pointing to a pot of boiling water on her stove and says, “Walk away from your hot steaming water.”
Massey then appears to pour the water into the sink and repeats the deputy’s phrase before saying, “I rebuke you in the name of Jesus,” according to the video.
Grayson threatens to shoot her and Massey apologizes and ducks down behind a counter, covering her face with what appears to be a red oven mitt, the video shows. As she briefly rises, Grayson shoots her three times in the face, the footage shows.
During Grayson’s testimony, he told the jury he believed Massey was going to throw the scalding water on him and was scared.
The assistant state attorney said that Massey’s final words before being shot with her hands up were, “I’m sorry,” according to WICS.
Grayson was initially charged with three counts in connection to Massey’s death — first-degree murder, aggravated battery with a firearm and official misconduct. He pleaded not guilty to all counts.
Following the seven-day trial in October 2025, the jury was given the option of considering second-degree murder instead of first-degree murder.
ABC News’ Mariama Jalloh and Sabina Ghebremedhin contributed to this report.
