When the FBI Comes Calling…®
January 18, 2007
Truck driver given life in prison for fatal smuggling deaths
By Juan A. Lozano, Associated Press Writer
HOUSTON (AP) _ Staring at the floor, Tyrone Williams gave no visible reaction as a jury's verdict was read that he be given life in prison without parole, and not a death sentence, for his part in the nation's deadliest human smuggling attempt.
But his defense attorney, Craig Washington, had to sit down and wipe away tears once the decision was read in court on Thursday.
''Those were tears of joy. I just couldn't hold it in anymore. I was relieved we had come to the end of this ordeal. God saved his life,'' Washington told reporters afterward.
More than 3½ years after 19 illegal immigrants died as a result of being trapped inside his sweltering tractor-trailer, Williams learned he would be spending the rest of his life in prison for their deaths.
After the verdict, prosecutors reiterated why they felt justified in pursuing a death sentence.
''One human being had the chance to let those people out. That was Tyrone Williams,'' said U.S. Attorney Don DeGabrielle. ''That is why he is the most responsible for the 19 deaths.''
Williams, who turned 36 on Thursday, was convicted last month by a jury on 58 counts of conspiracy, harboring and transporting immigrants.
After hearing testimony in the retrial's punishment phase, the same jury deliberated for a little more than five days before sentencing Williams, himself an immigrant from Jamaica.
Jurors had been debating a sentence on the 20 counts that were death penalty eligible _ 19 for transporting immigrants and one for conspiracy. The panel issued a sentence of life without parole for each of these transporting counts but elected to let U.S. District Judge Lee Rosenthal decide punishment on the conspiracy count.
Rosenthal will sentence Williams on Aug. 23 for the remaining 38 counts of harboring and transporting immigrants and for the conspiracy count, which also has a maximum sentence of life in prison without parole.
Jurors, whose names were not released, said they spared Williams a death sentence because they believed he just wanted to smuggle the immigrants.
''At no point in time ... was there any intent to have anyone die,'' said the jury's foreperson, an airline employee.
In handing down their verdict, jurors found that Williams' attorneys had shown he was a hardworking, good person who had expressed remorse for what happened; he was a minor participant in events leading up to the immigrants' deaths; and he didn't commit the offense in a heinous and depraved manner.
Houston attorney Douglas McNabb, who has defended a federal death penalty case, said Washington can claim some victory because Williams' life was spared.
''In a sense he won but this isn't the type of case you would say that there are winners and losers. It's just tough all the way around,'' he said.
The smuggling attempt began in an isolated field in Harlingen in May 2003, when more than 70 immigrants from Mexico, Honduras, El Salvador and the Dominican Republic were packed inside Williams' trailer.
As temperatures skyrocketed within the airtight refrigerator truck, the immigrants kicked walls, clawed at insulation, broke out taillights and screamed for help.
Nineteen of the immigrants died from dehydration, overheating and suffocation during the smuggling attempt from South Texas to Houston. Williams, after discovering the dead bodies strewn inside, abandoned the trailer at a truck stop near Victoria, about 100 miles southwest of Houston. He was later arrested in Houston.
Relatives of the 19 victims testified, demanding justice but never specifying whether that meant a death sentence. Williams' family, including his mother and father, also testified, begging the jury to spare his life.
''We hope this significant sentence will help dissuade potential alien smugglers away from this dangerous, dehumanizing and illegal business,'' Assistant Homeland Security Secretary Julie Myers said in a written statement.
Washington said he felt vindicated the jury concluded that other members of the smuggling ring were also responsible for the deaths.
Williams, who lived in Schenectady, N.Y., was the only one of 14 people charged in the case who faced the death penalty.
This was the second time Williams was tried for the smuggling deaths.
In 2005, 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 verdict, saying the jury failed to specify his role in the crime.