When the FBI Comes Calling…®

December 21, 2004

Smuggling trial jury to resume deliberations Wednesday

By JUAN A. LOZANO Associated Press Writer The Associated Press

The second full day of deliberations ended Tuesday without a verdict in the trial of two men accused of belonging to a smuggling ring that was responsible for the deaths of 19 illegal immigrants.

Jurors were to resume their deliberations Wednesday morning.

Victor Jesus Rodriguez and Fredy Giovanni Garcia-Tobar are accused of helping arrange for the transport of more than 70 illegal immigrants in a hot, airless tractor-trailer from South Texas to Houston in May 2003.

The trailer was abandoned at a truck stop near Victoria, about 100 miles southwest of Houston. Seventeen immigrants were found dead from the heat inside the trailer. Two died later.

The jury deliberated for about 6 1/2 hours each Monday and Tuesday. They got the case late Thursday, then took Friday and the weekend off.

Garcia-Tobar, 25, from Guatemala, is accused of helping load them into trailers or transport them to loading sites and of helping recruit truckers to haul them. Rodriguez, 38, is accused of picking up several immigrants.

Defense attorneys say their clients either did not have direct responsibility for putting the immigrants in the trailer or were accused by unreliable witnesses.

Each man faces 58 counts of harboring and transporting illegal immigrants. If convicted, each could get up to life in prison.

Douglas McNabb, a Houston attorney not connected with the trial who specializes in federal criminal defense, said the case could be difficult for the jury to sort out.

"I think they are going to take their time," he said. "It is a serious case dealing with serious allegations."

Tyrone Williams of Schenectady, N.Y., accused of driving and abandoning the trailer, is the only one of 14 indicted defendants who could face the death penalty if convicted. His trial is set to begin Jan. 5.

Williams' attorney has accused prosecutors of choosing his client for the first death-sentence prosecution in an immigrant-smuggling case because he is black.

Prosecutors say that Williams faces such a punishment because he alone had the power to release the immigrants from the trailer.

The trial judge dismissed charges Thursday against a third defendant, Claudia Carrizales de Villa, 36, saying prosecutors had failed to prove the case against her.

McNabb said the dismissing of these charges could hurt the government's case against the two other defendants.

"Jurors will not use as broad a brush with the others," he said. "They will see what was the evidence as it relates to these defendants."

The trial of another defendant is on hold. Five others previously pleaded guilty. Four were arrested in Mexico and face trial there, including Rodriguez's parents.


This article can also be found in the Tyler Morning News, Denton Record Chronicle and Plainview Daily Herald.