Hearing set for teen charged in accident that killed two

Bill Gang

Wednesday, April 8, 1998 | 10 a.m.

A Friday hearing has been set in Juvenile Court for a 16-year-old girl charged in the Feb. 28 accident that killed two of her Eldorado High School classmates.

Amber Carey was driving north on U.S. 95 near Lake Mead Drive in Henderson at speeds that may have topped 115 mph when a tire rated for slower speeds blew out.

The Nevada Highway Patrol said her blood-alcohol level at the time was 0.07 percent -- less than the 0.10 required to prove drunken driving in either adult or juvenile courts but sufficient for charges to be filed in the juvenile system.

NHP recommended that Carey be certified as an adult for trial, but the district attorney's office decided the case should be handled in the juvenile system.

In either system, prosecutors must meet the legal standards for drunken driving either through blood-alcohol levels or through actions or the failure to pass a field sobriety test.

With a blood-alcohol level lower than the statutory limit, it is expected that a conviction on a drunken driving charge would be difficult to obtain. Because Carey was injured in the crash, she was not given a field sobriety test.

But in the juvenile system, there are penalties for underage drinking that can include her being institutionalized at the Nevada Girl's Training Center in Caliente.

Carey's car hit a concrete jersey wall, killing Olga Lopez and Kena Corbet, both 16.

Carey was seriously injured but a 14-year-old passenger, Samantha Jenkins, escaped serious injury.

The teenager's case is going to be decided by Juvenile Hearing Master Sylvia Beller.