Smuggler in Texas immigrant deaths gets 17 years

By Jeff Franks

HOUSTON (Reuters) – A Honduran woman who ran a human
smuggling operation in which 19 illegal immigrants died inside
a sweltering truck three years ago asked for forgiveness on
Monday before a judge sentenced her to 17 years in prison.

The immigrants, among 74 crammed into the back of an
airtight truck, died from heat and suffocation as they were
being secretly transported from the U.S.-Mexico border to
Houston on May 14, 2003, in what authorities said was the worst
immigrant tragedy in U.S. history.

Karla Chavez Joya, 28, wept while she stood before U.S.
District Judge Vanessa Gilmore and expressed remorse for her
crime.

“If I could give my life to recover the lives of those
people, I would do it,” said the sobbing Chavez, dressed in a
green jail uniform.

“I ask for forgiveness from the families of those people,”
she said through an interpreter. “And I ask for forgiveness
from the United States because I know I broke the law.”

Prosecutor Dan Rodriguez had sought a life sentence for
Chavez, but her attorney, John LaGrappe, asked Gilmore to
sentence her to the time she has already been behind bars,
which is three years.

Chavez, who is from Honduras but was living in the United
States legally, had earlier pleaded guilty to conspiracy to
smuggle illegal immigrants.

Gilmore said there were “both mitigating and aggravating
circumstances” in the case and sentenced her to 209 months, or
17 years and five months behind bars.

Thirteen others were arrested for their part in the deaths.
Most have pleaded guilty or been found guilty by a jury and
one, Tyrone Williams, remains to be tried.

Williams, who drove the truck in which the immigrants died,
faces a possible death sentence in the case.

He was tried last year, but the jury could not reach a
verdict on all the charges against him, so he is awaiting
retrial.