Use of Smuggling Profit for Defense Fund OKd
A federal judge in Los Angeles ruled Monday that a former Drug Enforcement Administration agent accused of drug trafficking could use $100,000 his attorneys say he made smuggling gold and jewelry into the United States for his defense fund.
The decision by U.S. District Judge Terry J. Hatter Jr. came after a defense lawyer for Darnell Garcia, 43, of Rancho Palos Verdes said his client needed the cash to pay his two lawyers and an investigator.
Garcia has more than $3 million in funds frozen in Luxembourg banks that prosecutors charge were generated by drug trafficking. The $100,000 is part of those funds and prosecutors say that it, too, came from drug trafficking.
Although Garcia isn’t charged with jewelry smuggling, prosecutors opposed the ruling. They declared the funds are illegal whether they come from narcotics trafficking or smuggling.
Hatter set a new trial date for Oct. 23.
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