Jurors’ Illnesses Force Delay in DEA Agent’s Trial
Jury deliberations in the trial of former Drug Enforcement Administration agent Darnell Garcia were suspended Tuesday for a week because two jurors are ill. Garcia, 44, of Rancho Palos Verdes, is charged with drug trafficking and money laundering.
A source said U.S. District Judge Terry J. Hatter Jr., who is in Hawaii presiding over another criminal trial, adjourned the jury until next Tuesday after being notified of the illnesses.
Jurors in Los Angeles have been deliberating for about a week after the four-month corruption trial, during which prosecutors accused Garcia of stealing drugs and cash while he was a DEA agent. Two other former DEA agents pleaded guilty and testified against Garcia. Garcia testified that his bank accounts in Luxembourg, which contain more than $3 million, were generated by commissions he received from jewelry smuggling, a felony not charged in his indictment.
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