Immigrant-smuggling trucker gets added sentence

HOUSTON (Reuters) - A truck driver already serving life in prison for his role in the deadliest human smuggling attempt in the United States received added sentences for other counts in the case on Thursday.

U.S. District Judge Lee Rosenthal sentenced Tyrone Williams to 33 years and nine months for conspiracy and 20 years for transporting illegal immigrants who survived the 2003 trip.

Defense lawyers are appealing the case.

Williams was sentenced to life in prison by a jury in January for his role in the deaths of 19 of the immigrants he was transporting north from the Texas-Mexico border.

The law provided that the trial judge sentence him on other counts not involving the deaths.

The 19 immigrants from Mexico, Dominican Republic, Honduras and El Salvador died of heat stroke, suffocation and dehydration in the refrigeration trailer, which was sealed during the smuggling run on a hot night.

Prosecutors said there were at least 74 immigrants involved but that an exact count was difficult because some fled after Williams stopped his truck near Victoria, Texas.

Prosecutors had sought the death penalty under a law providing the maximum punishment for immigrant smuggling that results in deaths. But the jury that convicted Williams chose life in prison.

After Thursday's sentencing, defense lawyer Craig Washington renewed his pledge to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court to try to reverse Williams conviction and sentencing.

Fourteen people on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border were charged in the case. Sentences for the others ranged from 14 months to 23 years.

Illegal immigration, largely by Mexicans seeking greater opportunities north of the border, is a divisive issue in the United States that already is figuring prominently in the run-up to the U.S. presidential election in November 2008.

Legislation championed by U.S. President George W. Bush to overhaul immigration policy collapsed in Congress in June, dealing a blow to a key issue for U.S.-Mexico relations.

The Bush administration said this month it would increase scrutiny and impose larger fines on U.S. businesses that employ illegal immigrants.