Lawyer gets DUI suspects off hook

Friday, Oct. 8, 1999 | 11:42 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- A Las Vegas lawyer has found a way to beat the drunken driving law in certain cases -- at least for the time being.

Attorney John Watkins has used a maneuver that has been successful in at least six of 10 DUI cases. And his strategy will be the subject of arguments before the Nevada Supreme Court Monday.

Deputy District Attorney Owen Porterfield of Clark County says Watkins has manipulated the law so the judicial system fails. And Porterfield has asked the Supreme Court to disallow the tactic in the future.

There are six cases on appeal. Watkins' clients each have been charged with drunken driving, dating as far back as 1996. And the district attorney's office has filed other minor traffic charges, such as failing to yield the right of way, failure to use due care and speeding.

Watkins brings his client into court to plead guilty to one of the minor charges. He then argues that the DUI count is "redundant" under the law since it arises from the same offense and incident. He asks the justice of the peace to dismiss the DUI count. And it has worked six times.

For instance, Timothy Hedlund was arrested for DUI in May 1997. The prosecution then added the charge of failure to maintain the traffic lane. Hedlund appeared in court, pleaded guilty to the lesser charge and was fined $100. The more serious DUI count, which carries a jail term and a $1,000 fine, was dismissed on grounds it arose from the same offense.

Watkins, in his brief to the court, said several prosecutors in Clark County are piling on other charges in addition to the DUI count to force the defendants to give up their right to trial and plead guilty. "More particularly, they are taking a single act of driving and dividing it into multiple charges."

Watkins said he warned prosecutors against filing the multiple counts. He said he told them he would have his client plead to one of the lesser counts. "The prosecutors would laugh and file the multiple charges anyway." He said he then did what he promised.

"Fundamental fairness dictates that these people cannot be convicted on redundant charges," he said. "The Legislature did not intend to punish both DUI and traffic violations," he said.

"Merely because the prosecution came out with the short end of the stick is no basis to now let them win," Watkins said in his brief.

District judges Joseph Bonaventure, Michael Douglas and Joseph Pavlikowski all signed orders rejecting appeals from justice court that the DUI charge must be reinstated.

Porterfield said he doesn't know how many cases Watkins has used this tactic in. But he has tracked 10 cases in justice court, and Watkins has won six times and lost four.

Based on these split decisions, Porterfield said the district attorney's office wants the Nevada Supreme Court to rule.

"The Legislature intended that misdemeanor DUI and the various rules of the road be treated as separate offenses, separately punishable.

"Mr. Watkins' deliberate election to plead his clients guilty to a minor traffic infractions does not entitle him to evade trail on the more serious DUI charge," Porterfield said in his brief.

"It is one thing to invoke constitutional and procedural protections to assure fair, or even favorable treatment in criminal law. It is quite another to manipulate these protections in an attempt to make the system fail," Porterfield wrote.

In the Hedlund case, Justice of the Peace Douglas Smith granted the motion to dismiss the DUI charge, but he wasn't happy about it. "The court wishes to voice its disapproval of the gamesmanship, which occurred in this case," Smith wrote in his decision.

Smith said Hedlund "manipulated" a prior Nevada Supreme Court ruling to deprive the state of an opportunity to try the DUI charge.

The six cases are consolidated. Others who won dismissal of the DUI charges after pleading guilty to minor traffic offenses were Steven Henry, Ryan Melvin, Jerry Miley, Dean Miller and Reginald Ragsdale.