Deadlock On Immigrant Volunteer Case

The recent trial of No More Deaths member, Scott Warren brings into sharp focus when the law and simple human compassion for those suffering are at odds.

The Tucson Sentinel reported on its website that Warren is facing the charges of criminal conspiracy to transport and harbor illegal aliens, and harboring, after being arrested in January 2018 of last year in Ajo, Arizona by U.S. Border Patrol agents.

To Warren, assisting migrants who fell out of the wilderness was a matter of doing was to offer water and shelter after taking the dangerous, yet illegal trek of trying to enter the U.S. from Mexico by crossing the desert. At the time, Warren noted, there had been 88 bodies of people who attempted to cross the Arizona desert and died as a result. If convicted of the charges against him, Warren could have been facing as many as 20 years in prison.

The jury of eight women and four men deliberated for many hours on Monday and Tuesday. By the afternoon, it was determined that the jury had reached a deadlock of 8-4 on each of the charges against Warren, causing the judge in the case to declare a hung jury.

U.S. District Judge Raner Collins dismissed the current jury, thanking them for their time and saying, “It is not an easy thing to judge a fellow man.”

The lack of a verdict and a hung jury confused Warren, his family, and friends, but all were hopeful that the government had failed to make its case.

Because the government’s case resulted in a mistrial, Judge Collins has scheduled a hearing to review the case on July 2nd. It is uncertain whether or not prosecutors in the case will ask to re-try the case against Warren.