Cell phone indictment readied

Kim Smith

Friday, April 13, 2001 | 11:21 a.m.

A Clark County grand jury could be the first in the nation to hand down an indictment in connection with a fatal wreck believed to have been caused by a distracted cell phone user.

Chief Deputy District Attorney Gary Booker said an indictment charging Karen Morris with three counts of reckless driving and two counts of involuntary manslaughter was expected to be unsealed late this morning.

According to prosecutors, Morris, 34, was traveling west on County Road 215 on March 25 when she ran a red light at Durango Drive and struck a 1998 Lincoln. Morris was estimated to be traveling 65 mph in a 45 mph zone, prosecutors said.

The driver of the Lincoln, Leona Greif, 61, and one of her passengers, Marcia Nathans, 65, were killed. A second passenger, Elliot Nathans, was injured. Nathans was a client of Greif, a real estate agent.

Witnesses have said Morris drove around another vehicle at an intersection she passed through earlier and ran another red light.

Each time, witnesses say, Morris -- the owner of a real estate company and mother of a 7-year-old daughter who was with her at the time of the accident -- was using a hand-held cellular phone.

A warrant was issued for Morris five days after the accident, and she was arrested about a week later.

Deputy District Attorney Mary Brown and other members of the vehicular crime unit have been researching what roles cell phones play in regard to traffic accidents.

Although there have been numerous studies, none of the prosecutors has been able to find any criminal cases, at least on the appellate level, involving cell phones and manslaughter charges in Nevada or the United States, Brown said.

"I've been waiting for a cell phone case; I knew it was just a matter of time," Booker said.

Although causing an accident while talking on a cell phone technically is not a crime, causing an accident through inattention is, Booker said.

According to a study published by the New England Journal of Medicine in February 1997, the chances of a collision when using a cell phone is four times higher than when a driver is not using a cell phone.

The odds are the same for someone who is driving with the legal limit of alcohol in their system, the study says. The risk is just as high for those using hands-free cell phones.

The study states that the odds of an accident are the same regardless of the type of phone used because the accidents are caused by inattention, rather than the driver's lack of dexterity.

The time a person is on the phone and their experience talking on the phone while driving are also nonissues, the study says.

"The average duration of the calls (in the study) was 2.3 minutes, and 76 percent lasted two minutes or less," the study states.

Despite the test results, the study cautions against automatically banning cell phones while driving.

"The data do not indicate that drivers were at fault in the collisions. It may be that cellular telephones merely decrease a driver's ability to avoid a collision caused by someone else," the study states.

"Public debate is needed, given that cellular telephones contribute to improvements in productivity, the quality of life and peace of mind for more than 30 million people in North America alone," it said.

Many countries have passed laws prohibiting motorists from using cell phones while driving. Among them are Brazil, Israel, Australia, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Chile, Switzerland, Great Britain, Singapore, Taiwan, Sweden, Austria and Japan.

Booker said 19 states are considering such legislation. Nevada is not among them.

In April 1999 a cell phone ban didn't make it out of committee because legislators couldn't find anyone to speak out on behalf of the bill. Had it eventually made it into law, a person found guilty of driving while on a cell phone would have served up to six months in jail and paid a $1,250 fine.

As for Morris, James Leavitt, an attorney who worked for her, argued in a bail motion that she was not speeding, she had a green light and she was using a hands-free cellular phone.

"The court needs to be aware that this was simply a tragic accident," Leavitt said.

Morris remains free on a $100,000 bail, which was set despite prosecutors' attempts to obtain a $2 million bail.

Reckless driving carries a one to six-year prison sentence, involuntary manslaughter a one to four-year sentence.