Father says daughter is scapegoat

Kim Smith

Monday, Feb. 12, 2001 | 11:30 a.m.

As far as Steve Williams is concerned, Clark County has declared war on his daughter Jessica in order to lessen the threat of lawsuits.

He's up to the fight, and said he plans to see the battle to its conclusion, even if it goes to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Williams, a Littlefield, Ariz., resident, on Friday discussed the controversial trial of Jessica Williams, the 21-year-old who faces 20 counts in connection with a March 19 accident that took the lives of six teenagers on Interstate 15 north of Las Vegas.

The teenagers were picking up trash as part of a county-sponsored community service program.

Prosecutors allege Jessica fell asleep at the wheel because she had smoked marijuana and taken Ecstasy.

Her attorney, John Watkins, maintains Jessica simply fell asleep and the county is the true culprit in the tragedy, because it was responsible for victims being on the interstate's median.

Watkins wanted jurors to decide who ultimately led to the deaths of the children -- his client or the county. However, District Judge Mark Gibbons ruled against allowing Watkins to make that argument.

A different jury will look at the county's role during a civil lawsuit brought by the teens' parents.

Steve Williams is furious with Gibbons' ruling.

He is convinced that county officials have conspired against his daughter every step of the way -- from the charges filed against her to her $5 million bail to her treatment at the Clark County Detention Center to various rulings made during the trial.

County officials figure that if they can "hang" the children's deaths on Jessica, the county's liability will be lessened during any further proceedings, Williams said.

Not only should the county be held civilly liable for its actions, but the individuals who approved the work program should be charged criminally, Williams said.

"If my daughter is guilty, so are the others," Williams said. "And yet she was the only one charged. Why?"

Williams willingly admits that Jessica had used and was in possession of illegal drugs at the time of the accident. But he insists she was not impaired, and the DUI charges under which she was charged are unconstitutional.

As defense witnesses have testified, it has become clear there was no correlation between marijuana in the blood and impairment, Williams said.

If his daughter is convicted, Williams said, he plans to request a federal investigation into the county's action since the accident. He also plans to file a lawsuit against the county and lodge a complaint with the Nevada Commission on Judicial Discipline against Gibbons.

"I won't shut my mouth until nine county officials, including (County Commission Chairman) Bruce Woodbury are thrown into maximum security without bail," Williams said.

Gibbons not only denied Watkins' motion to include the county in the trial, but he has also prevented Watkins from putting certain witnesses on the stand who might help Jessica, Williams said.

In addition, anyone watching the trial can see that he sustains almost all of the prosecution's objections, but very few of Watkins', Williams said.

"If they are right in their charges, why do they have to cheat?" Williams asked.

Williams said he is so convinced the county is responsible for the teens' deaths that he has instructed Watkins to share everything his investigators have learned with the teenager's parents for their use during the civil trial -- even though Jessica is named as a defendant in that case, too.

He feels horrible for what the families are going through, and he hopes this gesture will help in some way.

"I don't know of any other way to help the families at this point," Williams said.

Williams also expressed his disgust with his daughter's $5 million bail. Some people accused of multiple counts of capital murder have been given lower bail than that, he said.

Chief Deputy District Attorney Gary Booker, who is the lead prosecutor on the case, pooh-poohs Williams' conspiracy theory.

The charges with which Jessica was charged came as a direct result of the evidence, not as a result of the county's influence.

"We went to the grand jury before the victims even had lawyers, before anyone was even thinking about the county's liability," Booker said. "The victims' families came up with that on their own afterward."

The county may end up paying for the deaths, but now is not the appropriate time to discuss the county's fault, Booker said.

When asked whether he has an interest in protecting the county from a huge settlement, Booker laughed.

"Worse-case scenario, if the county gets hit with a $15 million judgment, do you think I have to pay that out of my pocket?" Booker said.

Booker said the case didn't go to trial because the county wants to "hang" the deaths on Jessica. It went to trial because Watkins never approached him to cut a deal.

The district attorney's office rarely offers deals on its own, especially in cases where the charges are so serious, Booker said.

Moreover, the fact that Watkins filed a whopping 51 pretrial motions indicated to him that Watkins wanted to take the case to trial, Booker said.

As for Gibbons' perceived bias, Booker said Gibbons has actually allowed Watkins to bring in things that normally wouldn't be allowed, such as some hearsay testimony.

He has also given Watkins and Jessica extra time to visit and extra time to file witness lists, Booker said.

"I think he's been fair, in fact, he's been incredibly fair to a fault," Booker said.

The $5 million bail isn't outrageous, either, Booker said. It is his department's policy to ask for $1 million bail per dead victim, and it is usually granted.

He would have asked for $6 million bail, but one victim was still alive when the bail was initially set, Booker said.

Investigators haven't been able to serve Jessica's passenger, Tania Ozarek-Smith, a subpoena to appear in court, because she has disappeared, Deputy District Attorney Bruce Nelson, said.

The same thing could have happened if Jessica had bailed out, Nelson noted.

Williams said he hopes the jury does the right thing, but if it doesn't, he knows he can rely on Watkins to continue the battle.

"I have no words to describe my admiration of John Watkins and his integrity, intelligence, dedication and his determination to protect my daughter against these unconstitutional charges," Williams said.

Williams said he warned Watkins that he may not be able to swing the expense of the appellate process.

"He slammed down his fist on his table and he said 'By God, if I can't protect Jessica in court, I will personally take it to the Supreme Court on my nickel,' " Williams said.