TX Driver Sentenced In Deadliest Human Smuggling Case

HOUSTON, TX.(AP) – The truck driver in the nation’s deadliest human smuggling attempt was sentenced to lengthy prison terms of nearly 34 years for conspiracy and transporting illegal immigrants Thursday, to be carried out concurrently with the life term he’s already serving.

Tyrone Williams was convicted in December on 58 counts of conspiracy, harboring and transporting illegal immigrants.Williams, 36, drove a sweltering tractor-trailer in May 2003 during a smuggling attempt from South Texas to Houston that resulted in the deaths of 19 illegal immigrants. He declined to comment after the sentence was issued by U.S. District Judge Lee Rosenthal.

Twenty of the counts were death penalty eligible, and a jury had to decide whether to condemn Williams to die. After just over five days of deliberations in January, the jury spared Williams, sentencing him to life in prison and decided to let U.S. District Judge Lee Rosenthal sentence him on a conspiracy count.

By JUAN A. LOZANO Associated Press Writer

(Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)