6-Year-Old Boy Killed In Attempt To Reach U.S.

POSTED: 11:30 am EST March 20, 2006

MIAMI -- A federal judge looking to send a message to human smugglers imposed the maximum 10-year prison sentence on two Cuban men whose speedboat capsized after a chase with the Coast Guard. A 6-year-old boy drowned under the boat off the Florida Keys.
U.S. District Judge K. Michael Moore said he was imposing a sentence well above federal guidelines because of a marked increase in high-speed, dangerous pursuits between U.S. authorities and smugglers on the open ocean. Moore also said the two men should pay an extra penalty for playing a role in the boy's death.
Sentences imposed under those guidelines, Moore said, are "not providing an adequate deterrent for this kind of criminal conduct. We do have what seems to be an increasing number of these kinds of cases."
Alexander Gil Rodriguez, 25, and Luis Manuel Taboada Cabrera, 28, had faced a maximum of just under six years in prison under the advisory guidelines, which included an enhancement of 2 1/2 years for the death of 6-year-old Julian Villasuso during the incident on Oct. 12 about 45 miles south of Key West.
The boat carried 29 migrants, including Julian and his parents, and the two smugglers who pleaded guilty in November to migrant smuggling conspiracy charges.
Their attorney, Steven Amster, argued that the lower penalty was sufficient punishment, in part because the smuggling trip was not organized for profit. In remarks to the judge, Taboada apologized and took responsibility for his actions.
"I want to say that I'm really repentant about what happened," Taboada said in Spanish through an interpreter. Gil did not address the court.
Amster also suggested that the Coast Guard played a role in the boy's death by casting a net over their 33-foot boat's engines, causing water to rush over the stern and precipitating the boat's capsizing. There also was a delay in the attempt to rescue Julian after it was realized he was still under the boat.
"The boat had come to a stop. They had given up," Amster said.
But Moore said the smugglers should not expect leniency by attempting to shift blame to the Coast Guard and noted that other migrants on the boat had pleaded with the two smugglers to stop once the chase began.
"It's all too easy while we sit in a courtroom, in a very antiseptic environment, to ignore the dangers and risks these Coast Guard officers take every day," Moore said.
Amster said he would appeal the sentence, calling it far too harsh for the facts of the case.
The boy was buried in Florida and his parents permitted to enter the United States, while the other migrants were returned to Cuba. Under U.S. immigration policy, most Cubans who reach U.S. soil are allowed to remain while those intercepted at sea are normally returned to their homeland.

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