Driver accused in death of six teens loses round

Kim Smith

Tuesday, Sept. 12, 2000 | 10:41 a.m.

A young woman accused of driving under the influence in an accident that killed six teenagers lost a series of legal battles Monday but will have one more shot at winning the war during a hearing scheduled for next month.

Defense attorney John Watkins spent two hours Monday trying to persuade District Judge Mark Gibbons to dismiss a 21-count indictment against Jessica Williams.

Prosecutors say Williams, 21, was under the influence of marijuana and Ecstasy when she passed out at the wheel of her father's van on Interstate 15. The vehicle struck down six teenagers picking up trash as part of a Juvenile Court probation program.

Among other things, Watkins said the grand jury should have been given the opportunity to decide what part the county played in the tragedy. If the grand jury had decided the county was 51 percent or more at fault for placing the children out there, Williams could not have been indicted, he said.

Chief Deputy District Attorneys Gary Booker and Bruce Nelson argued that Williams could be charged even if the grand jurors believed her to be 1 percent responsible for the crash.

Watkins also said that prosecutors erred when they told grand jurors that having a prescription for marijuana would not have been a legal defense.

Although Nevada doesn't have any medical marijuana laws, other states do, Watkins said. Moreover, there are prescription medications that contain the active ingredient of marijuana in them.

Nelson called Watkins' argument "irrelevant" given the fact Williams doesn't have a prescription for marijuana or any THC-based drugs.

The only defense argument Gibbons did not shoot down Monday was the one in which Watkins argued a misdemeanor charge should have been filed in Justice Court rather than in District Court.

That charge, possession of drug paraphernalia, has been dismissed and will likely be refiled in Justice Court.

Williams' last hope rests on Watkins' argument that the state's year-old prohibited-substance law is unconstitutional. The attorneys are scheduled to argue the issue on Oct. 13.

Under the law, drivers caught with certain types and amounts of nonmedicinal drugs in their system are considered to be under the influence of the drug.

Watkins believes the law is unconstitutional because no scientific data exists that shows a correlation between marijuana and bad driving. Prosecutors say it doesn't matter how much of a drug is in one's system, just that it is in that person's system.