Woman convicted in immigrant smuggling

HOUSTON, May 2 (UPI) -- A federal court in Houston sentenced a Honduran woman to more than 17 years in prison for her role in a smuggling attempt in which 19 illegal immigrants died.

Karla Patricia Chavez Joya, who asked for forgiveness during her sentencing Monday, told U.S. District Judge Vanessa Gilmore, "To say I have no compassion for those people, that is not true," reports the Houston Chronicle.

Nine other people have pleaded guilty or been convicted of participating in the May 2003 smuggling attempt. Their cases may not come up before the second death-penalty trial of truck driver Tyrone Williams, the report said. The second trial has been ordered because jurors in the earlier trial could not reach a verdict on some counts.

Williams is accused of continuing to drive his truck from near the Mexico border toward Houston while those inside his trailer pounded on walls and punched out taillights in a desperate effort to get air, the report said. The abandoned trailer was found on May 14, 2003, at a truck stop with 17 bodies inside, including that of a 5-year-old boy. Two people later died at a hospital.