Another appeal made in death of six teens

Erica D. Johnson

Wednesday, Feb. 12, 2003 | 9:45 a.m.

The conviction of a Las Vegas woman serving a 48-year prison sentence for having drugs in her system when she ran over a group of teenagers with her van, killing six, must be overturned, her lawyer says.

Jessica Williams' attorney, John Watkins, asked District Judge Michael Douglas on Tuesday to overturn Williams' conviction because Nevada statute does not list carboxylic acid, a marijuana metabolite, as a prohibited substance.

Jurors convicted Williams under two alternate theories, which claimed both the marijuana by-product THC and carboxylic acid were in Williams' system at the time of the March 2000 accident, Watkins said.

When alternative theories are returned under a general verdict and either of those theories is unconstitutional, the conviction must be overturned, Watkins said.

"My client is in custody on an unconstitutional conviction," he said. "Jessica is entitled to relief as a matter of law. This is a constitutional issue of the highest magnitude."

But Chief Deputy District Attorney Bruce Nelson argued that because carboxylic acid is the metabolite of marijuana that remains in blood or urine after use, it is "indirectly implied" in statute that it is prohibited.

That interpretation was confirmed by the Nevada Supreme Court, which upheld Williams' conviction in August 2002, Nelson said.

"This issue isn't complex or particularly difficult," Nelson said. "There's nothing unclear about marijuana or marijuana metabolite."

He said defense attorneys had plenty of time to bring up the issue either before or during Williams' trial, but didn't.

Williams maintained she had used marijuana before the accident but was not impaired when her car went off Interstate 15 and plowed into the teenagers, who were cleaning up the highway as part of a juvenile detention crew.

Watkins said he didn't address the issue before because he did not know the technicalities of the theory until recently. He called the theory "a needle in a haystack."

If Douglas grants Watkins' motion, Williams could be retried as soon as this year. Douglas is expected to announce his ruling Feb. 25.