19 dead in the worst case of human smuggling
By Patricio Espinoza, Tyrone Williams Trial, Houston, TX
UPDATE: Oct.15, 2005 Reports recieved a 2005 Lone Star Emmy for "Continuing Coverage".
June 20, 2005.- It was the eve of May 13 of 2003 an eighteen wheeler somewhere in the outskirts of Harlingen, Texas was being loaded with human cargo... 74 undocumented immigrants. They had been traveling for days, some weeks, others almost a month from as far as Honduras and El Salvador and as close as Matamoros, Mexico border with Texas. All with one dream in common, a better life for their families, their children; a way out of their poverty and social struggles. Many will later tell their story... "I wanted to come legally... but many obstacles in my country, I had no choice but to come illegally" said Doris Agreta from Honduras. Her wish to work in the US for 3 or 4 years, to give her children a better life, then go back to her homeland.
Today Doris is in the United States of America, but in a Federal court, one of 55 survivors of what many described as the worst tragedy ever in the smuggling and death of 19 undocumented immigrants. All traveling in that eighteen wheeler found themselves trapped in what survivors now described "un infierno..." an inferno, a sealed truck, without air, water and under summer heat temperatures so high that at one point a glass of water could be boiled inside.
Tyrone Williams is the truck driver facing, if found guilty, the death penalty. The first ever for someone charged with the smuggling of undocumented immigrants, this under a 10 year old federal law.
Two years later, the case is in court in Houston, Texas. I covered the trial, painful stories of human struggle, the hard daily reality of illegally crossing into the US border... to many like in this case their only choice. Undocumented immigrants risking everything, their own life for a better one in a country, is yet to understand why. This is their story... of 74, 19 lost their life, 14 "coyotes" smugglers face charges, one, the driver of the truck, the death penalty... 55 survivors now live with their ordeal, a story no one could truly even imagine... unless you were one of them. UPDATE: The truck driver, Tyrone Williams, faces the death penalty in his second trial, scheduled for Nov. 28, 2005. A jury convicted him on 38 of 58 smuggling counts in March, but failed to reach a verdict on 20 others. Williams is a Jamaican citizen who lived in Schenectady, N.Y. Of the other nine people indicted, four have pleaded guilty, two were convicted, one was acquitted, one is awaiting trial and one is at large.
Covering the Story: No cameras allowed in Federal Court and a gag order prevents any participants to speak to the press. I worked with at least 2 photographers in order to capture a less than 1 minute daily walking photo-op of Tyrone Williams in shackles as he enters the Court house from the back and led by US Marshals. 
Another photog is up front to get lawyers and witnesses as they entered or exit the building. A sketch artist is in the courtroom, a must in order to capture daily testimony images to tell the story. Often, I coordinate with the artist to key moments that must be sketched for me to later write to for our daily report.
On site a Live truck, microwave back to the station. Victoria file tape and past survivors interviews have been key to every story in order to tell a compelling story. Writing with straight to the point legal facts and making sure each story brought the human factor to the forefront were also key to every pkg. The usage of survivor interviews, men on the street opinions and at one point undocumented immigrants we found cleaning the windows of the Federal Court as the trial was going on helped to go beyond the court room proceedings. 
My goal was also to express the feelings in the courtroom and place the viewer in there with us. Witnesses quotes and careful editing, shooting of the available drawings including camera movement to avoid a "still drawings look", close-ups, hands, faces, eyes took the viewer beyond the sketches and added strength to report. In this story, a zoom was not just a zoom into a drawing... it was taking the viewer right into the heart of that witness telling a wrenching tale of death and survival. UPDATE: In Oct, 15, 2005 the stories recieved a 2005 Lone Star Emmy for Continuing Coverage.
NY Times / AP Report: In often gripping detail, the opening week of what is expected to be a six- to eight-week trial before a jury of seven women and five men offered conflicting testimony on the degree of Mr. William's culpability. The same accounts that portrayed Mr. Williams as cruelly indifferent to the agonies of his passengers were offered as evidence that he was unaware of their suffering."READ MORE
