Mike on Crime

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

PHOENIX – A man who crashed an overloaded sport utility vehicle, killing 10 illegal immigrants while fleeing U.S. Border Patrol agents, has been sentenced to life in federal prison.

Mexican citizen Adan Pineda Doval was convicted in October by a Phoenix jury of 10 counts of transporting illegal immigrants causing death and two lesser charges.

A federal judge handed down the sentence Thursday, according to a statement from the U.S. attorney’s office in Phoenix.

Pineda was driving a Chevrolet Suburban packed with 20 illegal immigrants outside Yuma on August 7th, 2006, when border agents spotted him.

He fled, ignoring pleas of the passengers to stop, swerved to avoid a spike strip that agents had placed in the road, and crashed.

Among the 10 people who died was a 17-year-old pregnant woman and her fetus.