Houston ? A truck driver was spared the death penalty and sentenced to life in prison Thursday for his role in the nation’s deadliest human smuggling attempt – a journey that ended in the deaths of 19 illegal immigrants crammed in a sweltering tractor-trailer.

Tyrone Williams, 36, was convicted last month of 58 counts of conspiracy and harboring and transporting immigrants.

The federal court jury deliberated for a little more than five days before deciding to send Williams to prison without the possibility of parole for each of the immigrants who died from dehydration, overheating and suffocation in his truck during the 2003 trip from South Texas to Houston.