DUI offenders will be linked to their victims

Bill Gang

Friday, July 23, 1999 | 10:36 a.m.

Three men who pleaded guilty to reckless driving charges in two collisions that killed three people have been given probation -- and jewelry.

In two emotional sentencing hearings Thursday, the men were presented with bracelets that they will be required to wear for the next five years to remind them daily of what they caused.

They were the first bracelets issued under a new program initiated by the DUI team of the district attorney's office.

Inscribed on the half-inch-wide silver bracelet given to William Rouw are the words "In memory of Theresa Schroeder, killed 1-1-98 by my recklessness."

The bracelets given to Paul Auzenne and Jeffrey Roussin are identical except they list the names of Mary Lou Young and James Young Jr. and the date "8-11-98."

Auzenne, 36, a former Henderson building inspector and Roussin, 32, were drag racing side by side -- one in a sport utility vehicle and the other in a large truck -- on a residential street when the small car driven by 43-year-old Mary Lou Young pulled into their path.

Deputy District Attorney Gary Booker said the men, who were on their way to a steak house after playing a round of golf, simply were traveling too fast to avoid the collision that killed the woman and her 10-year-old son.

The incident occurred at Sausalito Drive and Racetrack Road in Henderson.

"They crushed my daughter and decapitated my grandson," Joy Jennings bitterly told District Judge Kathy Hardcastle at the sentencing hearing. "I hope they go to jail for a long time."

But that wasn't part of the plea bargain, and Booker said that even if the pair were given the maximum sentences they wouldn't be in prison for more than a few months.

He said the proposed sentence -- including the bracelets -- would "imprison their spirits and imprison their minds."

Each will be on probation for five years and be required to participate in the DA's Serious Offender Program, which mandates strict supervision, house arrest, multiple counseling sessions, alcohol testing and community service.

Calling the deaths "senseless," Hardcastle also ordered the men to pay $50,000 each in restitution and said that if they drive, they cannot drive sport utility vehicles or any car with more than six cylinders. The restitution was agreed to as part of the plea bargain.

Booker emphasized that while the men drank some beers while playing golf, their alcohol levels were negligible at the time of the fatal crash.

In court, Auzenne cried openly and told the victims' family, "I know the pain you are going through because I go through it every day."

His attorney, John Spilotro, said that as a result of the criminal case Auzenne has lost his job as a senior building inspector, lost his wife to divorce and contemplated suicide.

Roussin, his voice shaking with emotion, repeatedly apologized to the survivors.

His lawyer, Andrew Leavitt, said the defendant has suffered "a year of hell" and has had to undergo counseling.

In the second case, District Judge Jack Lehman gave Rouw the same sentence as Hardcastle did for the other men.

But Rouw, 32, already has spent a year in the Serious Offender Program for causing the North Las Vegas collision that killed 18-year-old Cheyenne High School student Theresa Schroeder.

"I've never seen a transformation like Mr. Rouw has made," Lehman commented.

Rouw apologized in court to the victim's mother, Kathy Malchow, and said, "I've done everything I can do to change my life."

Booker conceded that it was the victim who entered an intersection in front of the truck driven by Rouw although he had the right of way. But Rouw had been drinking and his truck was traveling 52 mph in a 45 mph speed zone when it hit the driver's door of Schroeder's Pontiac Grand Am and broke the woman's neck, he said.

Booker said that since Rouw's blood-alcohol level was tested at 0.18 percent, nearly twice the 0.10 level necessary to prove drunken driving, the issue of right of way was not a factor in filing charges.

But the circumstances resulted in a plea bargain in which Rouw pleaded guilty to felony reckless driving and a misdemeanor DUI count.

His attorney, Sean Sullivan, said Rouw's life had been reckless in other ways -- including drinking and marijuana use -- but the involvement in the Serious Offender Program has "improved his family life tremendously."

Rouw already has spent a year on house arrest and in counseling and has been paying toward the $15,000 in restitution he owes the victim's family.