Judge rescinds bail reduction in fatal crash at bus stop

Wednesday, Aug. 11, 2004 | 11:16 a.m.

The immigration status of a man charged with crashing his car into a Las Vegas bus stop and killing a 4-year-old boy has prompted District Judge Joseph Bonaventure to change his decision to lower the man's bail.

Bonaventure today "rescinded" his Aug. 5 ruling to reduce the bail of Nicholas Serrano-Villagrana from $500,000 to $50,000 after it was determined at a hearing this morning that U.S immigration authorities had indeed placed a hold on Serrano-Villagrana.

Bonaventure said a major part of his decision to lower the bail last week was because Serrano-Villagrana's attorney, Phillip Singer, "represented to me that he (Serrano-Villagrana) has no INS hold."

At today's hearing Deputy District Attorney Bruce Nelson said an INS agent told him late Tuesday "as a result of his (Serrano-Villagrana's) arrest he is subject to deportation."

Singer said he made no misrepresentations to Bonaventure regarding his client's immigration status and only became aware of the hold on Aug. 6 when Serrano-Villagrana's family was posting bail.

"They (Serrano-Villagrana's family) posted $7,500 and put up a house to bail him out," Singer said. "The jail called the bail bondsman and told him to pick up the bail because he (Serrano-Villagrana) had an INS hold and didn't qualify for house arrest."

Bonaventure had made house arrest a condition of his decision to lower Serrano-Villagrana's bail last week.

Singer asked Bonaventure to keep the bail at $50,000 and drop the house arrest condition. He said he would then have Serrano-Villagrana placed in federal custody where he would "either sit until the trial or be bonded out." Singer said if he was bonded out of the INS hold, he could then be placed back on house arrest.

Nelson opposed Singer's request for a few reasons. Nelson said once Serrano-Villagrana went into federal custody he could voluntarily request deportation. If Serrano-Villagrana contested being deported, an administrative hearing would be held to determine whether to deport him, according to Nelson.

Nelson said the INS agent he spoke with said because Serrano-Villagrana's criminal record didn't contain any violent offenses, it was likely he would be released on his own recognizance.

Nelson argued that the only way to ensure Serrano-Villagrana would not be deported would be to reinstate his $500,000 bail and keep him in custody at the Clark County Detention Center.

"It's too easy for him (Serrano-Villagrana) to leave the country courtesy of the INS," Nelson said. "The federal government doesn't care about the state's burden in this case."

Ultimately Bonaventure said the crimes Serrano-Villagrana is accused of were too serious for him to make any decision that could result in him possibly being deported as he reinstated the $500,000 bail.

Serrano-Villagrana is facing felony charges of drunken driving with death resulting in the crash that killed Angel Avendano and left his mother, Eulogia Avendano, 32, with two broken feet and other injuries.

Serrano-Villagrana is also charged with two counts of felony DUI with substantial bodily harm because a second woman, Nijailia Altitijka Graves, who was also waiting at the bus stop, suffered moderate injuries.

Singer said "it looks like we're back to square one again" after Bonaventure's decision. He said he would be contacting INS to see if he could schedule an administrative hearing on the hold. Singer said if he can secure a hearing, and the hold is lifted, he hopes Bonaventure would revisit the bail issue again.

Singer said in accordance with INS regulations, Serrano-Villagrana filled out his petition for citizenship in Las Vegas, which has been sent to San Francisco for review.

Bonaventure last week had lowered Serrano-Villagrana's bail after granting Nelson's request for a new trial date due to a key witness being in the midst of a high risk pregnancy.

Singer at that point had asked Bonaventure to revisit bail because the rescheduling of the trial violated Serrano-Villagrana's right to a speedy trial adding that on June 23 Bonaventure refused to lower Serrano-Villagrana's bail largely on the fact he had invoked his right to a speedy trial and wouldn't be in custody for a long time.

The Sixth Amendment guarantees that right, and Nevada law specifies that a defendant has a right to go to trial within 60 days of arraignment. Defendants can waive that right and frequently do because their lawyers want to have enough time to properly prepare for trial

The bail was lowered despite Nelson's argument that Serrano-Villagrana is a flight risk because he is not a U.S. citizen, has a prior DUI conviction and six times failed to appear in court on traffic warrants.

Serrano-Villagrana was convicted of a drunken driving charge in 2002 in North Las Vegas.

Singer countered that Serrano-Villagrana was not a flight risk because he has been in the United States for 15 years, has a valid citizenship application pending with Immigration and Naturalization Service and has several brothers, sisters and cousins supporting him in Las Vegas.