Thread: Illegal alien Driver Now Faces The Death Penalty

Aug 27, 6:41 PM EDT

Illegal alien Driver Now Faces The Death Penalty

By ARTHUR H. ROTSTEIN
Associated Press Writer

TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) -- A 32-year-old Mexican man previously charged with transporting illegal immigrants in a vehicle crash that killed nine people has been indicted on new charges that could bring the death penalty.

A federal grand jury in Phoenix on Tuesday indicted Brian Guzman Ochoa of Hermosillo, Mexico on four criminal charges, including transportation of illegal aliens resulting in death. Conviction on that charge could bring the death penalty or life in prison.

The new indictment was announced Wednesday by the U.S. attorney's office in Phoenix.

Guzman also is charged with transportation of illegal aliens, bringing in illegal aliens and re-entry after deportation.

Arraignment is pending for Guzman, who is in federal custody, U.S. attorney's office spokeswoman Sandy Raynor said.

Guzman's appointed attorney, Jeffrey Williams with the Federal Public Defender's Office in Phoenix, did not immediately return a call seeking comment.

The sport utility vehicle Guzman was allegedly driving northbound on State Route 79 on Aug. 7 veered off the highway about 15 miles south of Florence. It slammed into the far bank of a 30-foot-wide dry wash, flipping onto its roof.

Nine people died at the scene. Guzman was among 10 people injured and hospitalized after the crash. One person remains hospitalized, Raynor said in a statement.

According to the indictment, two of the 18 people Guzman was driving were juveniles.

In three of the 6 counts in the new indictment, Guzman was accused of knowingly bringing an individual into the United States on Aug. 5 without authorization, "for the purpose of commercial advantage or private financial gain."

Guzman was named in a criminal complaint filed shortly after the crash, identified as the vehicle's driver. Two survivors identified him and another man who died in the crash as guides who took the others from Agua Prieta, Mexico, into the United States.

The indictment was based on the complaint and on statements provided by material witnesses, Raynor said.

Guzman could face up to 20 years in prison if convicted of transportation of illegal aliens.

The maximum penalty for bringing in illegal aliens increases with multiple charges, so Guzman could face from three to 15 years.

And he could be sentenced to two years in prison if convicted of the re-entry charge.

Federal prosecutors have come down hard in other cases involving fatal crashes of smuggling vehicles. Adan Pineda-Doval, 22, of Michoacan, Mexico, is serving a life prison sentence for being the driver during a June 2006 rollover crash near Yuma that killed 10 illegal immigrants, including a pregnant woman and her unborn child.

Both witnesses said that Guzman and the other alleged guide had been smoking marijuana before they entered the SUV.

An affidavit filed shortly after the crash also said Guzman told Arizona Department of Public Safety officers at the crash scene that he was the driver.

He also provided other versions to investigators, authorities said.

Records show Guzman had been arrested at least three times for transporting illegal immigrants and once as a guide, and that he had been caught several times by Border Patrol agents with large groups of immigrants.

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Starting with hospital costs for treating these people in the crash (taxpayer dollars because they hadn't earned a dollar here yet), and no insurance, unless Guzman was selling them policies rather than charging a fee for smuggling. Then watch Guzman demand a public defender, again at taxpayer expense, and claim (if found guilty) a new trial due to the imcompetency of his counsel. This could last for a long time, with taxpayer dollars paying for the judge and court personnel. Meanwhile those upstanding Americans on the jury are paid a pittance to serve their duty. And if no death penalty is imposed, but life imprisonment, taxpayers will pay for the support of this human garbage for the rest of his life, plus providing him with an up-to-date law library.