The driver of a semi trailer rig involved in the deaths of 10 smuggled immigrants in Texas last year was sentenced Friday to life in prison.
James Matthew Bradley Jr. pleaded guilty in October to a count of transporting the immigrants resulting in death and a conspiracy count.
The truck Bradley drove containing the victims was registered to Pyle Transportation of Schaller, Iowa.
That company was shut down by federal regulators last October.
If Bradley had gone to trial and been convicted, he could have faced the death penalty.
The life term Bradley received does not include the possibility of parole.
At least 39 immigrants, most from Mexico and Guatemala, were inside the sweltering trailer found by San Antonio police last July in a Walmart parking lot.
Its refrigeration system wasn’t working and outside temperatures that day reached 101 degrees.
Eight people died inside the trailer and two others died after being hospitalized.
