Driver pleads guilty in DUI double fatal

Kim Smith

Wednesday, Aug. 29, 2001 | 9:27 a.m.

Family members of a Sandy Valley couple killed in a drunken driving accident in February experienced mixed emotions Tuesday after the driver pleaded guilty.

Cynthia Pippen of Phoenix and Ric Scott Jr. of Los Angeles were in court Tuesday when Melissa Biba, a 22-year-old Illinois woman, pleaded guilty to two counts of driving under the influence of alcohol in the accident that took their parents' lives on Jan. 13.

As a result of the plea agreement, Biba will be sentenced to six to 20 years on Oct. 19.

Richard Scott Sr., 59, and Carlene Scott, 66, were on Interstate 15 en route to Las Vegas to buy groceries when Biba clipped their pickup, sending it rolling. The Scotts died.

Pippen said that a part of her wishes Biba had been forced to sit through a trial and to hear about the havoc she caused. Another part, however, is glad the ordeal is almost over.

"You always think things like this happen to someone else, to the people on the news," Pippen said.

Pippen and Scott said they wish Biba had pleaded guilty earlier in the case. It appeared to them as though she wase trying to find a "loophole," Pippen said.

Prosecutors allege that Biba was in such a hurry to catch a flight back to Illinois that she drove from Jean at speeds up to 97 mph and sideswiped the Scotts' pickup while driving on the right shoulder of the highway. The truck then rolled several times, landing on its roof.

Blood tests taken after the accident showed Biba had a blood alcohol content of 0.17 and 0.15.

According to court documents, Nevada High Patrol Trooper Robert Kintzel told grand jurors that Biba filled out a police report and then insisted upon seeing the Scotts.

"After she was read her Miranda rights and read the charges that she was going to be booked on, she didn't realize that she had killed somebody, so she wanted me to actually prove it to her," Kintzel's statement said. "She wanted to see the deceased bodies. So I then walked her over and showed her the deceased occupants of the pickup truck."

Biba at first showed disbelief, the trooper's statement said, but then said she wanted to die.

"She requested that I shoot her on the side of the road or I help her kill herself," Kintzel's statement said.

Another NHP trooper, Matthew Moonin, drove Biba to the Clark County Detention Center and booked her.

Moonin testified during a grand jury proceeding that Biba continually downplayed her role in the accident.

"One of the things I noted that she repeatedly said was, 'My driving may have killed those people, but society is the one to blame.' She went on to say, 'Society made me drink and get in that car,' " Moonin said.

Pippen said Tuesday she will never forget that comment.

"It's not about the drinking and it's not about the alcohol, it's about the choices you make and taking personal responsibility for those choices," Pippen said.