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December 05, 2006
Truck driver convicted for deaths in smuggling case
By Juan A. Lozano, Associated Press Writer
HOUSTON -- Now that a jury has convicted a truck driver for his role in the nation's deadliest human smuggling attempt, his defense attorneys said they are focused on one thing: sparing him a death sentence.
The federal jury convicted Tyrone Williams on Monday of all 58 counts of conspiracy, harboring and transporting he faced for ferrying illegal immigrants during a May 2003 smuggling attempt from South Texas to Houston.
His airtight tractor-trailer was packed with more than 70 immigrants who punched out taillights and screamed for help when the heat inside the tomblike trailer became deadly. Nineteen of the immigrants died from dehydration, overheating and suffocation.
On the 20 death penalty eligible counts Williams faced in his retrial, the new jury found that his actions resulted in the death of a person, sending the trial to a punishment phase. That phase is set to begin Wednesday and last about a week.
Jurors will decide whether Williams should be sentenced to death or up to life in prison.
Craig Washington, Williams' defense attorney, said he plans on presenting testimony from about 20 witnesses. He wouldn't comment on who would testify on Williams' behalf or speculate on what will be key to his case.
"The jury has to decide whether to take another human being's life. So everything is on the table when they do that. And everything about a human being that the jury wants to know to decide whether the person lives or dies is important," said a visibly shaken Washington.
Prosecutors say Williams merits a death sentence because he was responsible for the deaths by not freeing the immigrants or turning on the trailer's air conditioning, which could have saved their lives. Some survivors testified they thought the air conditioning had been turned on.
Prosecutors declined comment on the verdict, but during a court hearing after the jury's decision was read, said they would be presenting 25 to 26 witnesses during the punishment phase and concentrating on how the crime was committed.
Williams had no visible reaction when the verdict was read, but hugged Washington, a former Houston congressman, before being led away by U.S. marshals.
Washington said his client transported the illegal immigrants but wasn't responsible for their deaths because he didn't know they were dying until it was too late. Washington blamed another smuggling ring member for causing the deaths by overstuffing the trailer.
Williams abandoned the trailer at a truck stop near Victoria, about 100 miles southwest of Houston.
Williams, 35, a Jamaican citizen who lived in Schenectady, N.Y., is the only one of 14 people charged in the case who is facing the death penalty.
This was the second time Williams was tried for the smuggling deaths.
Last year, a jury convicted Williams on 38 transporting counts, but he avoided a death sentence because the jury couldn't agree on his role in the smuggling attempt. The jury deadlocked on the 20 other counts.
The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected the decision, saying the verdict didn't count because the jury failed to specify his role in the crime.
The new jury deliberated for more than four days, beginning Nov. 27 and taking a three-day weekend. They returned the verdict after deliberating for about two more hours Monday.
Douglas McNabb, a Houston attorney who specializes in federal criminal defense, said Williams' team of defense lawyers has an "uphill climb" during the punishment phase.
"Primarily the government is going to argue that not only what he did was intentional, but that it was such a heinous offense that the defendant has no redemptive value at all and should be executed," he said.
This article can also be found in KRIS-TV, TX.