Tuesday, Oct. 26, 1999 | 10:24 a.m.
Alexis Jill Bodkin should find out Wednesday whether criminal charges that allege she created a road rage incident on Interstate 15 that killed a California motorcyclist will be dismissed.
Veteran defense attorney Richard Wright argued Monday that irregularities and outright mistakes during the grand jury proceedings tainted the indictment of the 22-year-old on charges of reckless driving and leaving the scene of an accident.
Wright noted that after two grand jury sessions, a final session was held at the request of jurors to clarify what had been contradictory and confusing evidence.
"That last session degenerated into a show-and-tell session that was contrary to law," he said.
"The district attorney brought in two accident reconstructionists to explain why the witnesses didn't see what they said they saw," Wright said. He complained that the grand jury foreperson actually participated in a demonstration on depth perception and, thus, became a witness.
District Judge Kathy Hardcastle seemed sympathetic to Wright's argument that the failure of the grand jury record to specify exactly what experiments were conducted may have been unfair to the defense.
She noted that had there been a Justice Court preliminary hearing, the defense would have been present to see the demonstration and question witnesses, but that was not the case with the grand jury, which meets behind closed doors.
Wright also contended that "misstatements" by the prosecutor guided grand jurors away from an involuntary manslaughter indictment and toward an indictment on a felony reckless driving charge that carries the potential of considerably more prison time.
Deputy District Attorney Bruce Nelson argued that any irregularities in the grand jury presentations were insufficient to justify dismissing the charges and that the evidence clearly pointed to Bodkin as the one who started the fatal chain of events.
Bodkin was indicted Aug. 11 in the Jan. 28 accident just north of Jean, 30 miles south of Las Vegas. A Nov. 8 trial is scheduled.
The incident began when a semi-tractor-trailer tried to pass another on the two-lane interstate but found it didn't have the power.
They ran side by side for several miles while traffic and irritated motorists backed up behind.
Bodkin was one of them, and Wright conceded Monday that she joined other cars in passing the trucks on the paved right shoulder.
The attorney alleged that as she did, the truck in the right lane -- which has still not been identified or located -- tried to run her off the road.
Although the driver of the other truck, Marianne Reed, told the Nevada Highway Patrol that Bodkin swerved in front of the two trucks and slammed on the brakes of her Lexus, Wright would not concede that.
Reed said that when the Lexus braked, the truck had to do the same. Anthony Scott Wray died of massive head injuries after his motorcycle hit into the back of Reed's trailer.
Wright said it is not clear why Wray crashed. One witness at the grand jury proceeding said the motorcycle began wobbling as it ran over the divider dots on the freeway as Wray attempted to drive between the two trucks.
Wright pointed out that Bodkin called 911 from her cellular telephone moments after the incident to complain about the trucker she said tried to run her off the road and then called the highway patrol when she arrived home.
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