Judge decides Williams trial will proceed

Kim Smith

Thursday, Oct. 26, 2000 | 11:14 a.m.

The prohibited substance law under which Jessica Williams is being tried in the deaths of six teenagers is constitutional, and her trial will proceed as expected on Jan. 29.

District Judge Mark Gibbons dashed Williams' hopes of freedom on Wednesday after spending more than a week studying each of the reasons her attorney believes the case against Williams should be dismissed.

Williams, 21, is accused of killing six teenagers as they picked up trash along Interstate 15 on March 19.

Prosecutors believe Williams passed out at the wheel as a result of smoking marijuana and taking the designer drug Ecstasy, and they were able to convince a grand jury to indict her on a relatively new law involving prohibited substances.

Under the law, anyone with certain amounts of particular street drugs in their system is automatically presumed to be driving under the influence of that drug.

In the Williams case, blood tests taken an hour after the accident showed that for each milliliter of her blood, she had 5.5 nanograms of marijuana in her system. Under the new law, anyone with 2 nanograms of marijuana per milliliter of blood is presumed to be under the influence of the drug.

Williams' attorney, John Watkins, contends his client merely fell asleep. He also claims there is no evidence that shows marijuana and bad driving can be linked, particularly at the levels defined in the statute.

Watkins further says the law is too vague because it doesn't specify which parts of the marijuana plant are illegal and that the law could even apply to people who have legal prescriptions for marijuana.

In his decision, Gibbons wrote that the U.S. Supreme Court "has upheld statutes when it has been able to infer any conceivable rational basis for their enactment."

Nevada's legislators heard from all of the relevant experts before they enacted the law and still chose to pass the law, Gibbons said.

Moreover, they have shown at least three rational reasons to pass it, Gibbons said. The legislators have a strong interest in traffic safety, they want drug usage to decrease and they want another reason people should not use illicit drugs.

As for the law unfairly applying to those who use marijuana as the result of a prescription, Nevada hasn't legalized marijuana, Gibbons said. If the state ever does, then perhaps the issue should be re-addressed then, he said.

Williams is being held in the Clark County Detention Center in lieu of $5 million bail.