$5 million bond set in crash case

Kim Smith

Wednesday, March 22, 2000 | 11:21 a.m.

The woman accused of mowing down a group of teenagers who were picking up trash along Interstate 15 Sunday afternoon was ordered held on $5 million bond this morning during her initial court appearance.

Jessica Williams, 20, a part-time Las Vegas resident, appeared before Justice of the Peace Tony Abbatangelo and a courtroom filled with family members of the victims.

Chief Deputy District Attorney Gary Booker asked Abbatangelo for eight working days to file a criminal complaint against Williams, saying he needed three extra days because of the nature of the case.

Abbatangelo gave Booker five days to file the complaint and told Williams that if it isn't filed within that time period, she would be automatically released on her own recognizance. That comment drew a gasp from the crowd, and Booker assured the judge he would make the deadline.

Abbatangelo then asked Booker what sort of a bond should be set, noting that because it isn't a death penalty case, one had to be set.

Booker replied that issue was up for argument, but then said, "We have six dead children, and I think $5 million is fair under the circumstances."

The case against Williams will be presented to a grand jury on April 11, Booker said.

After the hearing, Booker said his comment about the death penalty was more of a matter of perception than a legal argument. If the parents of the victims were asked, Booker said, they would surely say Williams should be eligible for the death penalty.

According to the Nevada Highway Patrol, Williams was driving north on I-15 when the minivan she was driving careened 200 feet across the dirt of the median, hitting the teens from behind as they worked near the Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The van eventually spun around, stopping in the southbound lanes and facing northwest.

Scott Garner Jr., 14, Alberto Puig, 16, Anthony T. Smith, 14, Rebeccah D. Glicken, 15, and Malina M. Stoltzfus, 15, died at the scene. Jennifer Booth, 16, died at University Medical Center on Monday.

Williams, who reportedly told police she had smoked marijuana two hours before the crash, was booked into the Clark County Detention Center on six counts of felony DUI, six counts of felony reckless driving and one count of possession of a controlled substance.

Booker said the results of blood tests are pending, but Williams could face charges under a new state law that has set limits on how much of a drug or its components can be in blood or urine samples before a person is considered legally under the influence of that substance.

Before the law took effect Oct. 1, Booker said prosecutors had a tough time linking drug usage with auto accidents. People found with certain levels of drugs in their system are now legally presumed to be impaired.

Attorney John Watkins, who has spoken with Williams' family but has not yet been retained by the defendant, said Tuesday that he believes the new law is unconstitutional.

"The problem with it is that it allows prosecutors to convict people of driving under the influence when they are fully capable of driving," Watkins said.

No tests have ever been conducted to see how many nanograms of a certain drug have to be in a person's system before they are impaired, Watkins said. So to say a driver is impaired because he or she has drugs in his or her system may not be true.

The law states that prosecutors can charge someone with DUI of a prohibited substance if they have in their system two nanograms of marijuana per milliliter of blood.

"But at two nanograms they're not even close to being impaired," Watkins said. "In fact, you can walk by someone smoking marijuana and have two nanograms or more" in your system.

Kim Smith covers courts for the Sun. She can be reached at (702) 259-2321 or by e-mail at kimberly@lasvegassun.com.