Exam ordered for driver in death of 4 immigrants

By Berny Morson, Rocky Mountain News
August 27, 2007

A federal judge today ordered a competency evaluation for the driver in a rollover accident that killed four illegal immigrants last fall.

Jose Francisco Franco-Rodriguez was at the wheel of a 1998 Dodge Caravan that went off an icy I-70 near Idaho Springs on Nov. 28. In addition to the dead, 10 others were in the vehicle.

At the request of Franco-Rodriguez's attorney, Judge Marcia Krieger ordered an evaluation of whether the defendant is competent to stand trial. The process is expected to take six to eight weeks.

Franco-Rodriguez is charged with transporting aliens resulting in death and re-entering the United States after he was deported.

He faces life in prison.

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