Williams’ lawyer says law requires she be freed

Jace Radke

Monday, July 28, 2003 | 11:17 a.m.

The law requires the release of Jessica Williams, the woman convicted of driving with drugs in her system and killing six teenagers, her attorney maintained in a petition filed Friday.

The petition for a writ of habeas corpus argues that Williams' Fifth Amendment rights were violated during her trial because she was subjected to double jeopardy.

The jury that convicted Williams of having drugs in her system also found that she was not impaired when the minivan she was driving struck a group of teenagers picking up garbage along Interstate 15 in 2000.

Williams' attorney, John Watkins, has maintained that the impairment and the drugs in Williams' system fall under the same law, and that by separating the verdicts on these issues Williams faced the same charge twice.

"Jessica has been acquitted and convicted of the same identical offenses," the petition states. "The six convictions ... violate the Fifth Amendment double jeopardy clause and must be vacated."

The federal action comes after Clark County District Judge Michael Douglas granted Williams, 23, a new trial in February. Douglas ruled that the carboxylic acid, a marijuana metabolite, found in Williams blood after the accident is not listed on Nevada's prohibited substance statute.

Prosecutors have appealed Douglas' ruling to the Nevada Supreme Court, and a new trial has been stayed pending a decision from the justices. Williams, was serving an 18- to 48-year prison sentence for the 2000 accident, when Douglas overturned her conviction.

In the meantime Williams remains in custody with bail set at $2.5 million.