No More Deaths trial: Warren testifies in defense, says he's 'compelled' to help migrants in desert

[G_j]

http://www.tucsonsentinel.com/local/report/060519_warren_nmd_trial/no-more-deaths-trial-warren-testifies-defense-says-hes-compelled-help-migrants-desert/?fbclid=IwAR30aRCalv0vC1TvsnkFSBO_vZYljZ2PTgDWCU0ZcWqhdEw4kIpWktwPqpU


In a courtroom packed with members of the clergy in their colorful vestments, medical students, and volunteers for the humanitarian aid organization No More Deaths, Scott Warren testified in his own defense, telling jurors Wednesday afternoon that that his own spiritual values compel him to help those who "stumble" out of the desert into the neighborhoods of Ajo, Ariz., and that doing so is "good and right, especially in a place that feels like a low-intensity conflict."

The 36-year-old geography professor faces one count of criminal conspiracy to transport and harbor illegal aliens and two counts of harboring, after he was arrested in January 2018 by U.S. Border Patrol agents at "the Barn," a ramshackle house used as a staging point for aid organizations trying to stem what volunteers have called a "humanitarian crisis" in the deserts west and south of Ajo, an unincorporated town about 110 miles west of Tucson.

If convicted and sentenced to consecutive terms, Warren could face more than two decades behind bars.

Prosecutors said during opening arguments last week that Warren conspired to transport and "shield" the two men from Border Patrol, and that he was telling the men how to circumvent a Border Patrol checkpoint north of Ajo just before he was arrested.

Prosecutors also pushed hard to link Warren to the manager of grass-roots shelters in Mexico who may have helped transport the two men from Ajo to the Barn.

..more..


http://www.tucsonsentinel.com/local/report/060519_warren_nmd_trial/

[yaesu]

1. No More Deaths is an excellent organization that saves lives, they are being prosecuted by fascists.

[bluecollar2]

2. "Deeply held religious belief"

Should be his argument...

Morally and ethically bound to help his fellow brothers and sisters...