Truck driver Tyrone Williams faces the death penalty in the deaths of 19 illegal immigrants found in an abandoned trailer after they were smuggled from Mexico across the U.S. border near Victoria, TX, May 13, 2003.

Two more died in a Victoria hospital. Each of the victims died of asphyxiation and dehydration.

U.S. Attorney Michael Shelby said in U.S. District Court in Houston March 15 that the decision was made to pursue the death penalty for Williams, 33, of Schenectady, NY, because he "intentionally acted with reckless disregard for human life," according to a news release.

Fifty-five of the passengers are known to have survived. Some told police they clawed holes through the sides of the trailer and waved to get the attention of passing motorists.

None of Williams' eight arrested co-defendants, including alleged ringleader Karla Patricia Chavez Joya, are to face the death penalty. Prosecutors said that's because they could not prove the other eight intended for the immigrants to die.

Shelby said a recommendation on whether to seek the death penalty first had to be approved by U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft. Trials are to start in June.