E -Stufe 12 - Übung Nr. 2 - GreenButterSolutions

by RALPH BLUMENTHAL

Published: February 9, 2006

HOUSTON, Feb. 8 — Overcoming an initial deadlock, a federal jury here on Wednesday  (convict) three South Texans in a

botched human-trafficking scheme that  (kill) 19 illegal immigrants sealed in a trailer bound north from the Mexican border

in 2003.

Eleven people  (now / convict) in the case, the nation's deadliest human-smuggling disaster. Fourteen

 (charge) after the trailer, crammed with at least 74 people from Mexico and Central America,  

(find) abandoned at a truck stop in Victoria, Tex., on May 14, 2003, with 17 bodies inside. Two more victims  (die) later.

The latest trial  (feature) gripping accounts from survivors, one of whom, Jose Juan Roldan-Castro,  

(testify) that the three and a half hours in the trailer  (feel) like "centuries." He  (describe)

tearing holes in the trailer in a desperate bid for air.

The three defendants, Victor Sanchez Rodriguez, 58, and his wife, Emma Sapata Rodriguez, 59, of Brownsville, Tex.; and her half-sister, Rosa

Maria Serrata, 51, of San Benito, Tex.,  (be) together found guilty of 35 of 43 counts involving the feeding,

sheltering and transporting of the victims and survivors, and  (can each face) up to 20 years in prison. Judge

Vanessa D. Gilmore  (set) sentencing for May 1.

Defense lawyers  (portray) them as aiding the immigrants in their quest for "the American dream." But the government

 (charge) that by harboring the immigrants, the defendants  (share) responsibility with those

who  (direct) the smuggling operation and with the driver of the truck.

After the verdicts, Judge Gilmore  (send) the jury of nine men and three women out again to determine whether

the defendants' houses used in the smuggling

 (shall confiscate) by the government. Jurors  (adjourn) early in the afternoon without reaching

a decision and  (be) to continue deliberating Thursday.

It  (appear) Tuesday that the three-week trial  (come) apart. Jurors  

(report) themselves deadlocked. Judge Gilmore  (read) them a standard exhortation to keep deliberating, and their

next note, on Wednesday morning,  (announce) their agreement on verdicts.

Because the jury  (find) that none of the immigrants " (die) as a result of the conduct" of

the three defendants, the maximum penalty  (be) 20 years instead of life in prison.

The judge  (ban) out-of-court comments because of continuing litigation, so none of the prosecutors, defense

lawyers or jurors  (make) any statement.

But based on the federal criminal statute and the federal sentencing guidelines, Douglas McNabb, senior principal of McNabb Associates,

a leading criminal defense firm in Houston,  (estimate) probable sentences of 8 to 10 years.

Mr. and Mrs. Rodriguez and Ms. Serrata, all American citizens,  (flee) to Mexico after the incident, but

 (arrest) there and  (return) for trial.

Their convictions  (come) almost a year after the driver of the truck, Tyrone M. Williams, 35, of Schenectady, N.Y.,

 (find) guilty on smuggling charges in the same court. But jurors  (deadlock) on questions

of his culpability, and the government  (seek) to retry him on all charges, including a conspiracy count carrying

the death penalty.

Mr. Williams's lawyer  (raise) claims of racial discrimination, arguing that he  (be) the

only major black defendant and the only one facing the death penalty. The government  (argue) that he

 (be) in a unique position to free the doomed riders.

In addition to Mr. Williams, two others  (try) and  (convict) in the case, including a son

of the Rodriguezes, and five others  (plead) guilty. Two others  (have) charges

dismissed, and one  (be) a fugitive.

Evidence in the case  (show) that the truck  (carry) its human cargo from

Harlingen, Tex., across a Border Patrol checkpoint in Sarita, Tex., to Robstown, west of Corpus Christi. But vehicles sent to meet

them there  (detain) at the checkpoint, and Mr. Williams  (tell) to drive hours

farther to Houston.

With passengers screaming and punching holes in the trailer as the air inside  (run) out, Mr. Williams

and Fatima Holloway, a woman riding with him,  (stop) the truck about two and a half hours later at

Victoria, where the doors  (throw) open. Mr. Williams and Ms. Holloway, who  

(become) a prosecution witness in a plea deal,  (buy) water for the survivors and  

(flee) in the cab.

Mr. and Mrs. Rodriguez and Ms. Serrata  (each face) had counts, but on Jan. 31, with the end of

testimony, Judge Gilmore  (throw) out as unsupported 38 counts against each of the Rodriguezes and

55 against Ms. Serrata. Of the remaining 20 counts against the Rodriguezes, Mr. Rodriguez  (convict) of 18,

and his wife of 15. Ms. Serrata  (convict) of two of her remaining three charges.

The assistant United States attorney who  (lead) the prosecutions here, Daniel C. Rodriguez, in final

arguments Friday  (describe) the Rodriguezes as "not just partners in marriage" but "partners in crime" and,

using a slang term for smugglers, called on jurors "to send a message to these three coyotes."

David Adler, a lawyer for Victor Sanchez Rodriguez,  (call) the deaths "a horrible, horrible tragedy" but

 (say) there  (be) no conspiracy to take the truck beyond Robstown, where the

immigrants  (be) still alive.

Other defense lawyers  (argue) that their clients  (feed) and

 (shelter) the immigrants and that higher-ups  (be) to blame for sending the truck

farther than it  (suppose) to go. Gerald E. Bourque, a lawyer for Mrs. Rodriguez,  

(describe) the defendants as "the little people" standing up against what he  (call) the government's

flawed immigration policy.

But the prosecutor, Mr. Rodriguez,  (show) photographs of the dead victims and  

(say), "Those  (be) the little people in this case."

Maureen Balleza and Wendy Grossman  (contribute) reporting for this article.