WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. -- A federal judge Wednesday sentenced a 26-year-old man to death for the drug-debt slaying of a family of four on the side of a Florida highway, including two young boys who died in their mother's arms.

Daniel Troya received two death sentences, for the two child victims, and five life terms. District Judge Daniel T.K. Hurley called Troya an "enormously dangerous man."

"I must confess, I have no confidence that Mr. Troya would not do this again if the opportunity presented itself," Hurley said.

Troya was shackled and surrounded by bailiffs while the sentence was read. He nodded to his family afterward. At a hearing in March, he threw a half-empty plastic water bottle at prosecutors after the jury recommended the death penalty for him and co-defendant Ricardo Sanchez Jr.

Sanchez, 25, was scheduled to be sentenced later Wednesday. Troya's case marks the first imposition of a federal death penalty in Florida since the federal government reinstated capital punishment in 1988.

Troya and Sanchez were convicted March 5 of killing Jose Luis Escobedo, 28; his wife, Yessica Guerrero Escobedo, 25; and their sons, Luis Julian, 4, and Luis Damian, 3. Their bodies were found in the grass alongside Florida's Turnpike on Oct. 13, 2006, shot at close range.

The victims had moved to Palm Beach County from the Brownsville, Texas, area a few months before they were killed.

Prosecutors say Jose Escobedo was involved in a drug ring with the defendants. They said Troya and Sanchez killed him and his family to settle a debt, then stole 15 kilograms of cocaine from Escobedo.

Yessica Escobedo suffered 11 gunshot wounds while cradling her two young sons in her arms in an apparent attempt to shield them. The boys were shot a total of 10 times. Jose Escobedo was shot five times.

Prosecutors said bullet casings at the scene were linked to ammunition at the defendants' home. They also said Troya and Sanchez's fingerprints were found on turnpike tickets from the night of the killings.

Defense attorneys had claimed the case was flimsy, questioned the reliability of government witnesses who stood to gain favor in their own criminal proceedings, and pointed to the lack of witnesses to the actual crime. They claimed the killings were the work of a Mexican drug gang.

Two others -- Danny Varela, 28, and Liana Lopez, 20 -- also were convicted in March in the same case on drug conspiracy and weapons charges. They face life sentences at hearings scheduled Friday. Authorities said Escobedo was the drug supplier for the gang led by Varela.