Thursday, April 20, 2000 | 11:14 a.m.
The case against a 21-year-old part-time Las Vegas resident accused of mowing down six teenagers last month is going back to a grand jury.
Chief Deputy District Attorney Gary Booker told District Judge Mark Gibbons that a second set of tests performed on Jessica Williams' blood showed that the woman had used the designer drug ecstasy in addition to marijuana in the hours before the March 19 crash.
Ecstasy, Booker told the judge, is a stimulant that also has hallucinogenic qualities.
At the time the grand jury met in the Williams case, authorities had no reason to look for any other drugs besides marijuana, but information was gleamed during the hearing that perhaps she had used ecstasy, Booker said. New tests were performed that confirmed that fact.
That being the case, a new grand jury hearing needs to be held to see if a superseding indictment should be returned or if information should be added to the existing indictment, Booker said.
Booker has tentatively scheduled the new hearing for May 9.
Booker made his announcement during what was to be Williams' arraignment on six counts of driving under the influence of a controlled or prohibited substance, six counts of reckless driving, six counts of involuntary manslaughter and one count each of possession of drug paraphernalia, possession of a controlled substance and being under the influence of a controlled substance.
However, because a transcript has not yet been finished of the grand jury hearing, in which nearly 30 people testified, the arraignment was postponed until April 27.
It will also be on April 27 that defense attorney John Watkins will argue to have Williams' $5 million bond reduced.
Also at today's hearing, Watkins asked Gibbons to allow Williams to have contact visits at the Clark County Detention Center with her parents and a privately retained psychologist or psychiatrist.
Watkins said his client is having a difficult time coping with the situation. Booker did not object to either motion and Gibbons granted both of them.
Williams is accused of driving a minivan from the southbound lanes of Interstate 15 into the center median of the freeway. Six teens who were picking up trash as part of their probation were hit, killing five. A sixth teen died the next day at University Medical Center.
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