Decision in fatal crash criticized

Kim Smith

Friday, May 19, 2000 | 10:25 a.m.

The attorneys for a woman whose husband was killed when his trash truck plunged down a gully in December aren't outraged that Republic-Silver State Disposal isn't facing criminal charges.

They are outraged as to the reason given by the Clark County district attorney's office for not pursuing charges.

"I can understand that they may not want to prosecute Silver State for economic reasons, but for them to say they don't think they can convince a jury to convict them on criminal negligence charges is ridiculous," Rick Petrone said Thursday.

Petrone represents Sharon Mitchell, the wife of Larry Mitchell, 42. Mitchell and Ilie Jones, 47, died Dec. 20 when the trash truck Mitchell was driving for Silver State plunged 300-feet off a Mount Charleston highway.

Nevada Highway Patrol inspectors found that 75 percent of the truck's air brakes weren't making contact with the wheels and the truck was unable to stop.

Petrone and Sharon Mitchell contend that Silver State knew the truck had chronic brake problems, but the company cleared the truck for use.

On Wednesday, Chief Deputy District Attorney Gary Booker announced that criminal charges would not be pursued because there is no evidence of criminal negligence on the part of Silver State.

Booker said there are three levels of negligence -- ordinary, gross and criminal.

For example, a store owner could be sued for ordinary negligence if he failed to pick up some banana peels and a customer fell and injured himself as a result, Booker said.

If the same store owner failed to pick up the banana peels after the first accident and someone else fell, he could be sued for gross negligence because he knew there was a likelihood of additional accidents.

But the store owner could only be charged with criminal negligence if he wanted people to fall and intentionally left the banana peels on the floor, Booker said.

Booker said in the Silver State case, the truck's brakes may have been out of repair, but he can't prove the brakes were intentionally left in disrepair or the company intended for the accident to happen.

Petrone, who has filed a civil lawsuit on behalf of Sharon Mitchell and her 15-year-old son, said the district attorney's office's approach is nonsensical.

"We believe we will be able to persuade a court that when you take the totality of the circumstances, the accident was so inevitable it was intentional," Petrone said.

In fact, just three weeks before the fatal accident, Mitchell and Ilie were in the same truck when the brakes went out.

"They would have been killed then, but they were able to veer off Mount Charleston and became wedged between some trees," Petrone said.

Booker said he was unaware of that incident and nothing in the reports he received indicated Silver State intentionally left the brakes in disrepair. He also pointed out that the Nevada Highway Patrol found Silver State to be in compliance with state regulations following the accident, albeit there were some paperwork problems.

Petrone said it would be easier for him to accept Booker's decision if he were to say that the district's attorney's office went over budget in the Ted Binion murder case.

District Attorney Stewart Bell said finances played no role in the decision.