A truck driver was convicted today over a failed attempt to smuggle dozens of people illegally into the US in an incident in which 19 people died.
Jurors will now decide if he should be sentenced to death.
The federal jury convicted Tyrone Williams on 58 counts for the transport and deaths of illegal immigrants during a May 2003 smuggling attempt.
His tractor-trailer was packed with more than 70 immigrants. Nineteen of the immigrants died from dehydration, overheating and suffocation.
Last year, a jury convicted Williams on 38 transporting counts, but he avoided a death sentence because the jury could not agree on his role in the smuggling attempt.
The 5th US Circuit Court of Appeals rejected the decision, saying the verdict did not count because the jury failed to specify his role in the crime.
In his retrial, Williams also faced 58 counts of conspiracy, harbouring and transporting illegal immigrants, 20 of which could lead to the death penalty.
Since the jury convicted him on the death penalty counts, the most serious he faced, it will now hear further evidence before deliberating on whether to sentence Williams to death or up to life in prison.
Agencies