Thread: Smuggler gets 35 years for crash that killed 6

http://www.svherald.com/articles/2005/1 ... /news1.txt

Sunday, October 16, 2005


Aftermath of fatal wreck a year ago lies in results in court

BY GENTRY BRASWELL
Sunday, October 16, 2005 2:57 AM MDT

HERALD/REVIEW

SIERRA VISTA — A pickup truck filled with illegal immigrants fleeing authorities a year ago today ended up in a 10-vehicle wreck that killed a local couple, three illegal immigrants and an unborn child.

The wreck also injured 21 people at the intersection of Buffalo Soldier Trail and the Highway 90 Bypass.

The tragedy of that day started with the wreck, which blocked traffic on Highway 90 at Fort Huachuca’s East Gate for the afternoon and into the evening as dozens of emergency responders worked the scene.

The aftermath continues in the courts with a criminal case and two recently filed civil cases.

Huachuca City newlyweds James Harold Lee and Emilia Guthrie Lee, both in their 70s, were killed when the truck they were in was crushed by the stolen Ford F-150, which was carrying at least 17 illegal immigrants.

The Ford F-150 was traveling at more than 100 mph when the driver careened through the Buffalo Soldier Trail-Highway 90 intersection, according to police reports.

Three illegal immigrants from Mexico in the truck were killed, as the Ford F-150 flipped and hit nine cars stopped at the southbound left-turn lane on Highway 90.

Four men were indicted by a federal grand jury as a result of this wreck, with Jimir Valle Martinez, 22, and Carlos Cortez, 30, accused of being the driver and “co-pilot” in the stolen vehicle.

Martinez is an illegal immigrant from Honduras, and Cortez is an illegal immigrant from Mexico. They are charged with conspiracy to bring illegal aliens into the United States for profit, conspiracy to transport illegal aliens for profit and transporting illegal aliens resulting in death.

Federal prosecutors have since decided not to seek the death penalty for the two men, though they were statutorily eligible for such prosecution attempts.

The two men face up to life in prison, a $750,000 fine, or both.

The trial date has been scheduled for Nov. 7 in the federal courthouse in Tucson, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for Arizona.

Two other men facing trial in relation to the wreck are Jose Luis Zepada-Cruz, 25, and Wilbert Garcia, 21, charged with conspiracy to bring in illegal aliens for profit, conspiracy to transport illegal aliens for profit and bringing in illegal aliens for profit.

Those two face up to 60 years in prison, a $750,000 fine, or both.

Garcia is from Honduras, and Zepada-Cruz is a Mexican national.

“It’s set for trial in November, and I can tell you that we’re watching what happens in the federal case,” Cochise County Attorney Ed Rheinheimer said.

Procedurally, the “double jeopardy” rule does not apply in these cases, meaning “they can be charged with the same offenses in federal court and state court,” Rheinheimer said.

Two civil complaints also have been filed in Cochise County Superior Court — one on Oct. 3, another on Wednesday.

Wednesday’s filing wasn’t available as of presstime because it hadn’t been fully processed.

The complaint filed on Oct. 3, Lee v. Cochise County, lists county Sheriff Larry Dever, Cochise County, the city of Sierra Vista, and Sierra Vista police Chief Dave Santor as the litigation defendants.

The plaintiff listed in the complaint is James Harold Lee, son of the deceased James Hubert Lee, filed on behalf of his father’s estate and on behalf of the deceased’s other surviving children.

The Oct. 3 complaint alleges the defendants are liable for events that led to the death of James Hubert Lee after the police chase last Oct. 16.

“It was a very unfortunate situation, and, we believe some very poor judgment and negligent error in police procedure,” said William D. Nelson, a Tucson-based attorney who was hired by the executor of James Hubert Lee’s estate. “And then, when they put down the spikes, that’s guaranteed to cause an accident.”

The complaint accuses liability through actions of county and city law enforcement personnel throughout the Oct. 16 high-speed pursuit.

The complaint filed with the county court clerk reads: “That James Hubert Lee, driving his Dodge pickup truck, was ordered to stop along with other traffic by defendant employees, agents, servants and/or independent contractors at the intersection of state Route 90 at mile post 317.2 (Buffalo Soldier Trail) in Sierra Vista, that defendants continued their pursuit of the white Ford pickup truck toward the intersection of state Route 90 and Buffalo Soldier Trail and that a law enforcement officer placed spike strips in the intersection; that the white Ford pickup truck entered the intersection and as a result of the placement of the spike strips in the roadway, the white Ford pickup truck went out of control striking and crushing James Hubert Lee’s vehicle and killing James Hubert Lee.”

The litigants cited gross negligence in hiring, training and supervising of official personnel involved in the emergency, and gross negligence in the tactics used by them during the chase.

The document calls for an undetermined dollar “amount, deemed just and reasonable” by the court, for compensatory, punitive and attorney’s fee reimbursement.

Neither city officials nor county officials would comment about any aspect of last year’s incident, all citing the pending civil litigation.

According to the Arizona Department of Public Safety accident report filed in the months after the wreck, there was no evidence the Ford ran over the deflation device put out at the intersection of Highway 90 and Buffalo Soldier Trail.

The DPS report indicated the driver of the Ford initially steered right and then made a hard left, causing the vehicle to rotate counterclockwise and become airborne.

The incident started about 11:30 a.m. when a Cochise County sheriff’s deputy began a pursuit after the stolen Ford disregarded a stop sign at a road leading out of a canyon in the Huachuca Mountains.

The report indicated an attempt to stop the Ford with tire deflation devices put out by a Sierra Vista police officer.

Nelson said he doesn’t anticipate any civil trial for at least a year from now, since “there’s going to be a lot of (legal) discovery and depositions.”

“There’s a lot of players, both from the county and the city who need to be deposed,” he said.

HERALD/REVIEW reporter Gentry Braswell can be reached at 515-4680 or by e-mail at gentry.braswell@svherald.com.

The #1 & #2 "litigation defendants" here should be the president & congress. Had the borders been secured as the public has been demanding, these two people would be alive today.

I honestly don't know how anyone who has the power to secure the borders is able to sleep at night knowing their doing nothing (for the almighty dollar) is allowing innocent American citizens to be murdered every day.

http://www.tucsoncitizen.com/daily/local/27340.php

Published: 09.26.2006
Smuggler gets 35 years for crash that killed 6
- CLAUDINE LoMONACO,
Tucson Citizen

A federal judge sentenced a man from Honduras to 35 years in prison for a smuggling incident in 2004 that led to the deaths of six people and an unborn child.

Judge Raner C. Collins sentenced Jimir Valle Martinez, 23, of Esquila Comayagua, Honduras, on Monday after a jury convicted him of 15 counts of bringing in and transporting illegal aliens resulting in death. He was convicted in February.

According to Cochise County deputies, on Oct. 16, 2004, Valle refused to stop his truck when deputies tried to pull him over, and they used tire spikes to stop him on state Route 92 near Sierra Vista.

Valle lost control of the vehicle and barreled into oncoming traffic, causing a multicar collision.

The truck was carrying 17 people, including 11 in the bed. All 11 were ejected, and three, all citizens of Mexico, died at the scene.

Two people, both U.S. citizens, in an oncoming car also died at the scene.
One passenger in the truck was severely injured and returned to Mexico, where he later died of his injuries. Another passenger in the truck lost her unborn child.