Felony charges filed in fatal DUI crash

Erica D. Johnson

Thursday, April 24, 2003 | 9:43 a.m.

A Utah man with a history of DUI arrests is facing eight felonies on charges of driving while under the influence and causing a three-car crash that killed a Florida couple.

District Judge Gene Porter unsealed the grand jury indictment of 52-year-old George Andrew Robinson on Wednesday. On March 31 Robinson was a driver in a collision on U.S. 95 between Laughlin and Boulder City. Joseph Haslem, 49, and his wife Juanita, 48, were killed in the wreck.

Ashley McCarrick, 20, Juanita Haslem's daughter, was critically injured with skull fractures and a broken jaw.

Authorities estimate his Robinson's blood-alcohol level was about 0.27 at the time of the collision, Chief Deputy District Attorney Gary Booker said.

Robinson is charged with three counts of DUI causing death or substantial bodily harm, three counts of reckless driving and two counts of voluntary manslaughter.

He is being held at the Clark County Detention Center with bail set at $4 million.

The arrest wasn't the first one caused by Robinson, who has at least seven prior arrests for drunken driving in Utah, Booker said.

Authorities have not yet determined how many of those charges led to convictions, he said.

In September Robinson pleaded guilty to DUI charges in La Verkin, Utah, and is awaiting a trial on separate DUI charges. That trial was scheduled for May 1, but that's now the day that Robinson is to be arraigned before District Judge Donald Mosley in Las Vegas.

Robinson's lawyer could not be reached for comment.

Police say Joseph Haslem was driving his Ford Thunderbird northbound on U.S. 95 when he came to a stop behind a tractor-trailer near a construction site.

Robinson, who was driving his Ford Bronco about 55 miles per hour, rear-ended the couple's vehicle, causing their car to rear-end the tractor-trailer, Booker said. Robinson's truck had a 5,000-pound cement mixer attached to it.

Following the accident, Booker said, witnesses saw Robinson pouring out cases of beer onto the side of the road.

"His biggest concern was to get on the phone and call his buddy to tell him he'd wrecked his Bronco," the prosecutor said. "He had no concern for the victims."

Robinson's driving history fits the profile of most drunk drivers, Booker said.

If DUI charges aren't treated as felonies, most defendants get off with minimal jail time and a fine, he said.

"Half of the DUI cases are from people who have already had previous DUIs," he said. "Generally we don't lock people up for a misdemeanor."

In Nevada a person who has three DUIs in a period of seven years will have their fourth offense treated as a felony, Deputy District Attorney James Hartsell said.