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HOUSTON -- Three people accused of participating in the nation's deadliest human smuggling attempt escaped possible life sentences after being convicted of conspiracy to harbor and transport illegal immigrants.

The defendants, all U.S. citizens from south Texas, each could get up to 20 years in prison on the charge when sentenced in May. They originally faced life in prison, but the jury believed the defendants were not responsible for the immigrants' deaths or for putting their lives in danger.

Attorneys did not comment on the verdict Wednesday because of a gag order.

Prosecutors said Victor Sanchez Rodriguez, 58, his wife, Emma Sapata Rodriguez, 59, and her half-sister, Rosa Sarrata Gonzalez, hid the immigrants in their home and moved them to other houses before they were loaded into an airtight tractor-trailer for transport from Texas to Houston in 2003.

Seventeen were dead by the time the trailer was discovered, and two died later. They all died from dehydration, overheating and suffocation.

Sanchez also was convicted of eight counts of harboring and nine counts of transporting illegal immigrants; Sapata was convicted of eight counts of harboring and six counts of transporting; and Sarrata was convicted of one count of harboring. The other counts carry punishment ranges of 10 to 20 years.

The jury deliberated for 13 1/2 hours over four days, at one point telling U.S. District Judge Vanessa Gilmore they were deadlocked. She sent them back to keep trying.

Jurors still have to decide whether several homes owned by the defendants and used in the smuggling operation must be turned over to the government. They deliberated for about two hours on that issue before adjourning for the day. They were set to continue Thursday.

More than 70 illegal immigrants had crowded into the back of the tractor-trailer rig to be hauled from South Texas to Houston in May 2003. Authorities have said the temperature inside the trailer reached 173 degrees. Survivors testified they crowded around holes they punched in the truck so they could breathe and kicked out a back light to try to signal passing motorists for help.

They were found after the driver abandoned the trailer at a truck stop in Victoria, about 100 miles southwest of Houston.

At trial, prosecutors presented evidence showing the immigrants' families wired money to the defendants in amounts ranging from $500 to $2,000 Defense attorneys had argued their clients were minor players in a scheme orchestrated by other members of the smuggling ring.

In all, 14 people were indicted in the case. Two, including a son of Sanchez and Sapata, were convicted of various smuggling charges. Charges against two were dismissed, five others pleaded guilty, and one man remains a fugitive.

The truck's driver, Tyrone Williams, was convicted in March of transporting illegal immigrants. Prosecutors want to retry him on other counts that could bring the death penalty.