Trial still on track in deaths of 6 teens

Kim Smith

Monday, Dec. 4, 2000 | 9:49 a.m.

The defense attorney for a young woman accused of running over and killing six teenagers on Interstate 15 failed again Friday in his bid to get the charges against his client dismissed.

John Watkins maintains that the prohibited-substance law under which Jessica Williams is being tried is unconstitutional. On Friday Watkins tried for the third time to convince District Judge Mark Gibbons to side with him.

Williams, 21, is scheduled to go on trial Jan. 29 on six counts of driving under the influence of a prohibited substance in connection with a March 19 accident that took the lives of six teens who were picking up trash along the interstate.

Prosecutors contend Williams passed out at the wheel after taking the designer drug Ecstasy and smoking marijuana. Watkins says the girl just fell asleep.

Killed instantly in the crash were Scott Garner Jr., Alberto Puig, Anthony Smith, Rebeccah Glicken and Malina Stoltzfus. A sixth teen, Jennifer Booth, died the next day.

Watkins has been arguing that Nevada's law violates Williams' equal protection rights under the U.S. Constitution because the law differentiates between those with a prescription for marijuana and those without.

The defense attorney asked Gibbons to reconsider his past decisions not to dismiss Williams' indictment because voters have since passed a medical marijuana bill that will allow doctors to prescribe marijuana once legislators decide how to implement it.

Deputy District Attorney Bruce Nelson pointed out that Williams did not have a prescription for marijuana at the time of the accident, so the issue is moot.

Gibbons agreed and pointed out that people in jail on liquor violations weren't released from jail when Prohibition was repealed.

Williams, Gibbons said, will be tried on the law as it existed on the date of the accident.

At the time of their deaths, the teenagers were on probation for minor infractions. They had been ordered to pick up the trash under a contract Republic Services had with the county.