Hauptmenü:
1. Mixed tenses. At http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/09/national/09verdict.html?_r=0 you find the complete article.
You are advised to read it before doing the exercise.
Published: February 9, 2006 HOUSTON, Feb. 8 — Overcoming an initial deadlock, a federal jury here on Wednesday (convict) three South Texans in a
(kill) 19 illegal immigrants sealed in a trailer bound north from the Mexican borderin 2003. Eleven people (now / convict) in the case, the nation's deadliest human-smuggling disaster. Fourteen
(charge) after the trailer, crammed with at least 74 people from Mexico and Central America,
(find)
abandoned at a truck stop in Victoria, Tex., on May 14, 2003,
with 17 bodies inside. Two more victims
(die) later.
The latest trial
(feature) gripping accounts from survivors, one of whom, Jose
Juan Roldan-Castro,
(testify) that the three and a half hours in the trailer
(feel) like "centuries." He
(describe)
tearing holes in the trailer in a desperate bid for air.
The three defendants, Victor Sanchez
Rodriguez, 58, and his wife, Emma Sapata Rodriguez, 59, of
Brownsville, Tex.; and her half-sister, Rosa
Maria Serrata, 51,
of San Benito, Tex.,
(be)
together found guilty of 35 of 43 counts involving the feeding,
sheltering and transporting of the victims and survivors, and
(can each face) up to 20 years in prison. Judge
Vanessa D.
Gilmore
(set) sentencing for May 1.
Defense lawyers
(portray)
them as aiding the immigrants in their quest for "the American
dream." But the government
(charge) that by harboring the immigrants, the defendants
(share) responsibility with those
who
(direct) the smuggling operation and with the driver of the
truck.
After the verdicts, Judge Gilmore
(send) the jury of nine men and three women out again to
determine whether
(shall confiscate) by the government. Jurors
(adjourn)
early in the afternoon without reaching
a decision and
(be) to continue deliberating Thursday.
It
(appear)
Tuesday that the three-week trial
(come) apart. Jurors
(report)
themselves deadlocked. Judge Gilmore
(read)
them a standard exhortation to keep deliberating, and their
next
note, on Wednesday morning,
(announce)
their agreement on verdicts.
Because the jury
(find)
that none of the immigrants " (die) as a result of the conduct" of
the three defendants, the
maximum penalty
(be) 20
years instead of life in prison.
The judge
(ban)
out-of-court comments because of continuing litigation, so none
of the prosecutors, defense
lawyers or jurors
(make) any statement.
But based on the federal criminal
statute and the federal sentencing guidelines, Douglas McNabb,
senior principal of McNabb Associates,
a leading criminal defense firm in Houston,
(estimate)
probable sentences of 8 to 10 years.
Mr. and Mrs. Rodriguez and Ms. Serrata,
all American citizens,
(flee) to Mexico after the incident, but
(arrest)
there and
(return)
for trial.
Their convictions
(come)
almost a year after the driver of the truck, Tyrone M. Williams,
35, of Schenectady, N.Y.,
(find) guilty on smuggling charges in the same court. But jurors
(deadlock) on questions
of his culpability, and the government
(seek) to retry him on all charges, including a conspiracy count
carrying
the death penalty.
Mr. Williams's lawyer
(raise)
claims of racial discrimination, arguing that he
(be) the
only major black defendant and the only one facing the death
penalty. The government
(argue)
that he
(be) in a unique position to free the doomed riders.
In addition to Mr. Williams, two others
(try) and
(convict)
in the case, including a son
of the Rodriguezes, and five others
(plead) guilty. Two others
(have) charges
dismissed, and one
(be) a fugitive.
Evidence in the case
(show)
that the truck
(carry)
its human cargo from
Harlingen, Tex., across a Border Patrol
checkpoint in Sarita, Tex., to Robstown, west of Corpus Christi.
But vehicles sent to meet
them there
(detain) at the checkpoint, and Mr. Williams
(tell)
to drive hours
farther to Houston.
With passengers screaming and punching
holes in the trailer as the air inside
(run)
out, Mr. Williams
and Fatima Holloway, a woman riding with him,
(stop) the truck about two and a half hours later at
Victoria,
where the doors
(throw)
open. Mr. Williams and Ms. Holloway, who
(become)
a prosecution witness in a plea deal,
(buy)
water for the survivors and
(flee) in the cab.
Mr. and Mrs. Rodriguez and Ms. Serrata
(each face) had counts, but on Jan. 31, with the end of
(throw)
out as unsupported 38 counts against each of the Rodriguezes and
55 against Ms. Serrata. Of the remaining 20 counts against the
Rodriguezes, Mr. Rodriguez
(convict)
of 18,
and his wife of 15. Ms. Serrata
(convict)
of two of her remaining three charges.
The assistant United States attorney
who
(lead) the prosecutions here, Daniel C. Rodriguez, in final
(describe)
the Rodriguezes as "not just partners in marriage" but "partners
in crime" and,
using a slang term for smugglers, called on
jurors "to send a message to these three coyotes."
David Adler, a lawyer for Victor
Sanchez Rodriguez,
(call)
the deaths "a horrible, horrible tragedy" but
(say)
there
(be) no conspiracy to take the truck beyond Robstown, where the
immigrants
(be)
still alive.
Other defense lawyers
(argue)
that their clients
(feed) and
(shelter)
the immigrants and that higher-ups
(be) to
blame for sending the truck
farther than it
(suppose)
to go. Gerald E. Bourque, a lawyer for Mrs. Rodriguez,
(describe) the defendants as "the little people" standing up
against what he
(call)
the government's
flawed immigration policy.
But the prosecutor, Mr. Rodriguez,
(show) photographs of the dead victims and
Maureen Balleza and Wendy
Grossman
(contribute) reporting for this
article.
2. Passive Voice and reported speech. Report what people said or asked in the passive voice. Do not use that.