Suspect in USF murders pleads not guilty

Added: 2026-05-22

[00:00:00]Hisham Abu Garbi, the man accused of killing USF students Zameel Lamond and Naheeda Bristy, was formally arraigned this morning. He waived his appearance in court, which is pretty typical for arraignment. It was just his attorneys.

[00:00:12]They entered pleas of not guilty on his behalf to all seven counts that he is facing. Next up, both sides have to get through discovery. That can take a long time. After the hearing, the state attorney told me there's about two terabytes of data to get through. So, the next hearing in this case is a status conference set for December 10th.

[00:00:30]Today, the judge also said he wanted to set a trial date just so they have something on the calendar, but it's flexible and very likely to change. But, tentatively, the trial is set for November of 2027. The state attorney also told me she has been in contact with the victims' families in Bangladesh. She gets on Zoom calls just to keep them updated with what's going on in the case.