Truck driver in migrant deaths won’t face execution

Federal prosecutors will not seek the death penalty against a truck driver facing human trafficking charges in the deaths of 10 unauthorized immigrants found inside a sweltering tractor-trailer in San Antonio in July.

According to a statement from the U.S. Justice Department on Wednesday, a superseding indictment in the case adds new charges against 60-year-old James Matthew Bradley Jr., of Clearwater, Fla., who already faces a sentence of up to life in prison if convicted.

The indictment also names a second suspect, 47-year-old Pedro Silva Segura, an unauthorized immigrant living in Laredo. Segura also faces a possible sentence of life in prison, but prosecutors have not ruled out the possibility of seeking the death penalty against him.

Shortly after midnight July 23, San Antonio police found the truck at a parking lot behind a Walmart store after an employee making the rounds was approached by someone from the truck asking for water, officials have said.

Officers found Bradley sitting inside the cabin and 39 unauthorized immigrants standing and lying in the rear of the trailer, the Justice Department said. Eight people found inside are believed to have died from heat exposure and asphyxiation, police have said.

Thirty people were taken to a hospital, including two who later died.

Authorities estimate that at one point as many as 200 people had been inside the truck.

Bradley was arrested at the scene and remains in federal custody, officials said. Silva was arrested in Laredo on an unrelated charge and is waiting to be taken to a San Antonio holding facility.

Both men face charges of conspiracy to transport and harbor undocumented aliens for financial gain resulting in death; conspiracy to transport and harbor undocumented aliens for financial gain resulting in serious bodily injury and placing lives in jeopardy; and transporting undocumented aliens resulting in serious bodily injury and placing lives in jeopardy.

In addition, Bradley faces charges of transportation of undocumented aliens resulting in death; transporting undocumented aliens resulting in serious bodily injury and placing lives in jeopardy; and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.