Grand jury may get DUI case

Kim Smith

Thursday, March 23, 2000 | 2:43 a.m.

The case against a repeat drunken driver accused of causing a chain-reaction pileup that injured a Megabucks winner and killed her sister will likely be presented to a grand jury next week.

Prosecutors with the Clark County district attorney's vehicular crime unit informed Justice of the Peace Doug Smith Wednesday that they intend to present the Clark Morse case to the grand jury on Thursday.

Should Deputy District Attorneys Bruce Nelson and Gary Booker do so, a preliminary hearing scheduled for late April will no longer be needed.

After the hearing, defense attorney John Moran said he plans to "zealously provide a defense" for Morse, who has been arrested at least 16 times since the 1960s on DUI charges.

According to police, Morse, 57, rear-ended Cynthia Jay-Brennan's 1999 Chevrolet Camaro as she was waiting at a red light behind three other cars at Boulder Highway and Indios Avenue on March 11. Jay-Brennan's vehicle was propelled into the other cars.

Jay-Brennan, who won $35 million in January in a record Megabucks jackpot, was seriously injured in the accident and is now at Craig Rehabilitation Hospital in Denver. Her sister, Lela Anne Jay, 45, was killed. Those in the other vehicles received minor injuries.

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