Calif. Advocates Campaign In Teen Farmworker Death

STOCKTON, Calif. (AP) -- The United Farm Workers of America and relatives of the pregnant teen farmworker who died from heat stroke in a California vineyard are hoping to convince a judge to reject a plea deal for farm officials charged in the case.

Union officials and family members are urging a San Joaquin County judge to turn down a deal for two of the three defendants, who were originally charged with involuntary manslaughter in the death of 17-year-old Maria Isabel Vasquez Jimenez.

Authorities believe the teen collapsed because she was denied access to shade and water while picking grapes in nearly triple-digit heat in 2008.

If the plea deal is approved, Maria De Los Angeles Colunga, the owner of Atwater-based Merced Farm Labor, and Elias Armenta, Colunga's brother and the company's former safety coordinator, would be sentenced to community service.

(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)