Jurors visit scene of three deaths

Kim Smith

Wednesday, March 6, 2002 | 9 a.m.

After getting an up-close look at the site where three Las Vegas residents lost their lives last April, jurors in the Mitchell Dettloff case listened Tuesday as witness after witness described the fatal accident.

They did not, however, hear from a woman who told police that Dettloff screamed obscenities at his dying victims.

Chief Deputy District Attorney Gary Booker said he can't find the woman who claimed Dettloff shouted the remarks while standing in the parking lot of Santa Fe Station, which overlooks the U.S. 95 crash scene on the east.

Dettloff's attorney, Richard Wright, said months ago that the woman was not a credible witness.

Tuesday was the second day in Dettloff's trial. The 36-year-old Las Vegas resident faces four counts of leaving the scene of the accident and reckless driving and three counts of involuntary manslaughter.

Booker alleges that Dettloff was in a hurry to pick up his two young sons on April 22 when he merged onto southbound U.S. 95 from Ann Road at a high rate of speed.

Seconds later, Dettloff's black Lincoln allegedly clipped the right front end of a Ford pickup carrying members of the Barton family to church. The pickup was forced across the dirt median and into the path of Brian Cooper, who was driving northbound, Booker said.

Holly Barton, 33, and Benjamin Barton, 8, were thrown from the vehicle and killed. Cooper, 30, also was killed. James Barton was critically injured but recovered.

Stephen Maisner was the first of a handful of witnesses to testify as to what they saw the afternoon of the crash. Maisner said he was northbound on U.S. 95 when he was forced to veer off the road to avoid hitting Cooper and Barton, both of whom came at him out of a cloud of dust.

An obviously shaken Maisner said he saw Benjamin and Holly Barton ejected from their vehicle and was unable to stop from running over Holly Barton.

Maisner said he never saw Dettloff's vehicle.

Robert Beltran said he had just teed at the 13th hole at the Painted Desert golf course when he heard a lot of honking and looked toward the highway. He saw a white Ford pickup and a black vehicle.

"They basically merged together and ricocheted. They went their separate ways in the median," Beltran said.

When asked to elaborate, Beltran said, "I feel the black car came right into his (Barton's) path."

Seconds later, he heard the collision of the Barton and Cooper vehicles.

Beltran, a minister, said he called 911 and told the dispatcher to send a Flight for Life helicopter because he knew the accident was a bad one.

Earlier Tuesday morning a caravan of three vehicles drove by the accident three times before stopping in the Santa Fe parking lot. In one vehicle were the 12 jurors, two alternates and a bailiff. In another were Dettloff and defense attorney Karen Winckler. The last vehicle carried District Judge Joseph Bonaventure, Wright, Booker, Deputy District Attorney James Hartsell and four members of the media.

For five minutes the jurors walked along the fence separating the casino's parking lot from the northbound lanes of U.S. 95, pointing and taking notes.

Dettloff and Winckler never left the car.

If convicted, Dettloff faces two to 15 years in prison for each charge of leaving the scene. Involuntary manslaughter carries a one to four-year term, and reckless driving carries a one to six-year term. Although he can be convicted of both reckless driving and involuntary manslaughter, he can only be sentenced on one of the charges.