In Migrant Case, Death Ruled Out

Federal prosecutors said Monday that they had decided not to seek the death penalty against five people charged in the deaths of 19 immigrants who were trapped in the back of a tractor-trailer.

U.S. Atty. Gen. John Ashcroft’s decision was announced by Michael Shelby, U.S. attorney for Texas’ southern district.

“Federal law requires the government to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that a defendant intended to cause the death of a victim before the death penalty may be imposed,” Shelby said. “After a thorough review of the facts ... we have determined that such proof is presently unavailable.”

The defendants, including accused ringleader Karla Patricia Chavez, a legal U.S. resident originally from Honduras, still face life in prison if convicted.

Shelby said prosecutors had not determined whether to seek the death penalty against Tyrone Williams, 32, of Schenectady, N.Y., the driver of the tractor-trailer. Prosecutors have until Feb. 1 to decide.

More than 70 people from Mexico, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua and Guatemala were loaded onto the tractor-trailer in May after sneaking across the U.S.-Mexico border. According to authorities, the driver abandoned the tractor-trailer in Victoria after he realized that many of the illegal immigrants had died.

Sheriff’s deputies discovered 17 people dead in the back of the truck or on the ground nearby, victims of excessive heat and a lack of oxygen. Two others died later in area hospitals.

Nancy G. Herrera, a spokeswoman for the U.S. attorney’s office in Houston, said that nine of 14 people charged in a U.S. indictment had been arrested. Of the nine, seven have been charged with conspiracy to smuggle, harbor and transport humans in a manner causing serious injury or death -- a crime that can bring the death penalty.

Of the seven, only Williams may still face the death penalty.