Juvenile Court hearing set in deaths of Eldorado teens

Bill Gang

Monday, April 13, 1998 | 10:12 a.m.

The 16-year-old girl charged in the Feb. 28 accident that killed two of her Eldorado High School classmates has pleaded not guilty and will appear May 18 in Juvenile Court for a contested hearing -- the equivalent of a trial.

Amber Carey, accompanied by attorney Bill Terry and her father, entered the plea Friday in the courtroom of Juvenile Hearing Master Sylvia Beller, who will preside over the non-jury trial.

Carey was driving north on U.S. 95 near Lake Mead Boulevard at speeds of up to 115 mph when a tire, not rated for high speeds, blew out, authorities have alleged.

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 court 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.

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.

Because of a blood-alcohol level lower than the statutory limit, it was expected that a conviction on a drunken-driving charge would have been difficult to obtain. And 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 institutionalization at the Nevada Girl's Training Center in Caliente.

Killed when Carey's car hit a wall were Olga Lopez and Kena Corbet, both 16.

Carey was hospitalized with injuries, but a 14-year-old passenger, Samantha Jenkins, escaped serious injury.