CNN: Immigrant's final hours
"HOUSTON, Texas (AP) -- After traveling from Mexico and Central America, many of the immigrants thought the last leg of their journey to the United States would be in the comfort and safety of a big rig.
Instead, smugglers crammed them like cattle into an airtight trailer, with no water.
As the temperature inside soared to 173 degrees, the immigrants screamed and clawed at the walls, leaving bloody fingerprints. When it was over, police found the bodies of the 19 victims piled on top of each other.
On Wednesday, three people were convicted of conspiracy and harboring and transporting illegal immigrants in the nation's deadliest human smuggling attempt.
The defendants, all U.S. citizens from South Texas, could get up to 20 years in prison when sentenced May 1 on the conspiracy charge. The other counts carry punishment ranges of 10 to 20 years.
Prosecutors said Victor Sanchez Rodriguez, 58, his wife, Emma Sapata Rodriguez, 59, and her half-sister, Rosa Sarrata Gonzalez, hid the immigrants in their home and moved them to other houses before they were loaded into a stifling tractor-trailer for transport from South Texas to Houston in 2003.
"It's time to send a message to these three that their days of making money on the pain, desperation of others has come to an end," federal prosecutor Daniel Rodriguez told the jury.
The trio could have faced life in prison if the jury had held the defendants responsible for the immigrants' deaths, but jurors told the judge they did not feel that way.
More than 70 illegal immigrants in all were packed into the tractor-trailer. As they traveled, they began to succumb to the rising heat inside the trailer. Seventeen were dead by the time the trailer was discovered, and two died later. They all died from dehydration, overheating and suffocation.
Survivors testified that the immigrants took off their sweat-drenched clothes for relief and crowded around holes they punched in the truck so they could breathe. They also kicked out a signal light to try to get the attention of passing motorists.
They were found after the driver abandoned the trailer at a truck stop in Victoria, about 100 miles southwest of Houston.
At trial, prosecutors presented evidence showing the immigrants' families wired money to the defendants in amounts ranging from $500 to $2,000.
Defense attorneys argued that their clients were bit players in a scheme orchestrated by other members of the smuggling ring. In all, 14 people were indicted in the case.
Two, including a son of Sanchez and Sapata, were convicted of various smuggling charges. Charges against two were dismissed, five others pleaded guilty, and one man remains a fugitive.
The truck's driver, Tyrone Williams, was convicted in March of transporting illegal immigrants. Prosecutors want to retry him on other counts that could bring the death penalty."
Awful.
Instead, smugglers crammed them like cattle into an airtight trailer, with no water.
As the temperature inside soared to 173 degrees, the immigrants screamed and clawed at the walls, leaving bloody fingerprints. When it was over, police found the bodies of the 19 victims piled on top of each other.
On Wednesday, three people were convicted of conspiracy and harboring and transporting illegal immigrants in the nation's deadliest human smuggling attempt.
The defendants, all U.S. citizens from South Texas, could get up to 20 years in prison when sentenced May 1 on the conspiracy charge. The other counts carry punishment ranges of 10 to 20 years.
Prosecutors said Victor Sanchez Rodriguez, 58, his wife, Emma Sapata Rodriguez, 59, and her half-sister, Rosa Sarrata Gonzalez, hid the immigrants in their home and moved them to other houses before they were loaded into a stifling tractor-trailer for transport from South Texas to Houston in 2003.
"It's time to send a message to these three that their days of making money on the pain, desperation of others has come to an end," federal prosecutor Daniel Rodriguez told the jury.
The trio could have faced life in prison if the jury had held the defendants responsible for the immigrants' deaths, but jurors told the judge they did not feel that way.
More than 70 illegal immigrants in all were packed into the tractor-trailer. As they traveled, they began to succumb to the rising heat inside the trailer. Seventeen were dead by the time the trailer was discovered, and two died later. They all died from dehydration, overheating and suffocation.
Survivors testified that the immigrants took off their sweat-drenched clothes for relief and crowded around holes they punched in the truck so they could breathe. They also kicked out a signal light to try to get the attention of passing motorists.
They were found after the driver abandoned the trailer at a truck stop in Victoria, about 100 miles southwest of Houston.
At trial, prosecutors presented evidence showing the immigrants' families wired money to the defendants in amounts ranging from $500 to $2,000.
Defense attorneys argued that their clients were bit players in a scheme orchestrated by other members of the smuggling ring. In all, 14 people were indicted in the case.
Two, including a son of Sanchez and Sapata, were convicted of various smuggling charges. Charges against two were dismissed, five others pleaded guilty, and one man remains a fugitive.
The truck's driver, Tyrone Williams, was convicted in March of transporting illegal immigrants. Prosecutors want to retry him on other counts that could bring the death penalty."
Awful.
posted by matua105 at 12:24 PM
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