Court briefs for October 19, 2000

Thursday, Oct. 19, 2000 | 11 a.m.

Judge will rule in Williams case

District Judge Mark Gibbons said Wednesday he will decide next week if a new law being used to prosecute Jessica Williams is constitutional.

Williams, 21, has been charged with driving under the influence of a prohibited substance in connection with the March 19 deaths of six teenagers.

According to prosecutors, Williams was under the influence of marijuana and Ecstasy when she passed out at the wheel of her father's van and ran over the teens as they picked up litter along Interstate 15.

On Monday, experts called by both prosecutors and defense attorneys testified about whether marijuana impairs one's driving ability, and on Wednesday the attorneys argued their viewpoints.

Gibbons said he would take the arguments under advisement and release a written decision next week.

Trial set in collision with fire captain

In front of a courtroom packed with firefighters and the victim's family members, a Las Vegas man accused of drunken driving in an accident that seriously injured a firefighter pleaded not guilty Wednesday.

District Judge John McGroarty scheduled Dorian Geba's trial for April 16.

Police allege Geba, 33, was drunk when he went through a stop sign at Cimarron Road and Alta Drive on Sept. 17 and struck a sport utility vehicle driven by Las Vegas Fire Department Capt. Nathan Pechacek.

Pechacek, whose condition has been upgraded to serious from critical, suffered several broken bones, head injuries, a ruptured spleen and a punctured lung.

Morse wins delay in DUI case

The drunken driving trial of a man accused of injuring a Megabucks winner and killing her sister has been postponed until February.

District Judge Sally Loehrer granted a defense motion Wednesday to postpone Clark Morse's Nov. 6 trial date. She also notified the attorneys the case has been reassigned to District Judge Valorie Vega as part of a court-reorganization program.

Morse's trial is now set for Feb. 5.

Morse is accused of running a red light on March 11 and causing a chain reaction accident that killed Lela Jay, 45, and seriously damaged the spine of Cynthia Jay-Brennan, the 37-year-old woman who had won $35 million two months earlier at a Las Vegas slot machine.

A handful of other people suffered less serious injuries.

Prosecutors allege Morse, who has been arrested at least 16 times on DUI charges, had a blood alcohol content of 0.18 shortly after the accident.

Gaule loses appeal in intruder case

The Nevada Supreme Court has upheld the conviction of a Las Vegas resident who was convicted of voluntary manslaughter for chasing a home intruder down his street and shooting him to death.

The Supreme Court held that the state successfully proved that Thomas Gaule was not acting in self-defense when he shot and killed Ricky Tripp in October 1998.

Gaule was placed on three years probation in April in connection with Tripp's death.

Gaule was indicted on a voluntary manslaughter charge after he chased Tripp 500 feet down the street and shot him to death after Tripp and Jason Lamb broke into his house and attacked him with their fists and stun guns.

Grand jurors thought Gaule was well within his right to shoot and kill Lamb because he was in immediate fear for his life and the shooting took place within the Gaule home.

However, the grand jurors and the Supreme Court had a problem with the fact that Gaule not only chased Tripp down the street, but he paused to call 911 before giving chase.

Suspect to stand trial in May

A 37-year-old man accused of chasing down and shooting his former girlfriend to death at the Golden Gate casino is scheduled to go to trial in May.

District Judge Sally Loehrer on Wednesday scheduled Larry Taylor's trial for May 3 after Taylor pleaded not guilty in the November shooting death of Gloria Cohns, 37.

Police say Taylor shot and killed Cohns, a mother of three, while she worked as a blackjack dealer.

Taylor recently returned from a state mental health facility after being declared competent to stand trial.