SOUTH

TRIAL TO BEGIN IN HUMAN SMUGGLING CASE HOUSTON – The first trial stemming from the nation’s deadliest human smuggling attempt was set to begin today in federal court, more than 18 months after 19 illegal immigrants died in a packed, sweltering trailer on a Texas highway. Victor Jesus Rodriguez, Claudia Carrizales de Villa, and Fredy Giovanni Garcia-Tobar each face 58 counts of harboring and transporting illegal immigrants. Each faces up to life in prison if convicted.

Jury selection was set to begin this afternoon and prosecutors expect the trial to last a month.

Prosecutors say the three were part of a smuggling ring that tried to transport more than 70 immigrants from south Texas to Houston in April 2003.

Seventeen of the immigrants from Mexico, Central America, and the Dominican Republic died in the packed, poorly ventilated tractor-trailer, which authorities estimate reached 173 degrees. Two others died later.

One immigrant dialed 911 on a cellular phone and pleaded for help in Spanish. By the time a south Texas police dispatcher found someone to translate, the call had been lost.

– Associated Press

WEST

AS JURY DECIDES PETERSON’S FATE, APPEALS LOOM SAN FRANCISCO – The jury that convicted Scott Peterson of murder reconvenes this week to decide whether he should be executed, but the decision may not be final for years given his numerous options for appeal. Appeals are expected to focus on the performance of Peterson’s high-profile Los Angeles attorney, Mark Geragos, legal experts said. “An appellate attorney would argue that Geragos was incompetent,” said a retired Ventura County death penalty prosecutor, Pete Kossoris. “One of the things he can be criticized for was his promise of certain evidence in his opening statement, and he never offered it.” Mr. Geragos, as with others involved in the case, remains under a court-imposed gag order. Peterson’s possible grounds for appeal also include the dismissal of two jurors during deliberations. One was ousted after performing her own research on the case; the reason for removing the other juror, who was the foreman of the panel, has not been disclosed. After a five-month trial that became a national sensation, Peterson was convicted November 12 of first-degree murder in the death of his wife, Laci, and second-degree murder in the death of the fetus she carried. Arguments begin tomorrow in the trial’s penalty phase, in which the same jury will decide whether he should get the death penalty or life in prison without parole.

– Associated Press

2,000 PASSENGERS AWAIT FLIGHTS OUT OF RENO RENO, Nev. – Hundreds of stranded passengers awaited flights out of Reno-Tahoe International Airport yesterday, a day after a snowstorm and an equipment malfunction forced dozens of flights to be canceled or delayed. About 2,000 people were unable to book flights out of the city until today or tomorrow because most flights were already full on the airport’s busiest day of the year, airport spokesman Brian Kulpin said. The airport traditionally handles 11,000 passengers on the Sunday after Thanksgiving. “It couldn’t have happened at a worse time of the year,” Mr. Kulpin said. “You’re talking about people who have to get back to work and people who have to get back to family.” At nearby Lake Tahoe and elsewhere in the Sierra Nevada, a winter storm system that moved in from the Northwest dumped up to 18 inches of snow, delaying thousands of Thanksgiving holiday motorists heading over mountain passes. At the airport, 41 departures were canceled or delayed during a seven-hour period Saturday after a malfunction in the airport’s instrument landing system. Twenty-eight arrivals also were affected. More than 4,000 passengers in all were affected by the equipment breakdown, airport officials said.

– Associated Press