Mothers form group to save kids from being tried as adults

Erica D. Johnson

Thursday, Jan. 29, 2004 | 11:21 a.m.

Some local mothers were so outraged by the state's push to prosecute a Henderson teen charged in a fatal drunken-driving accident as an adult that they have formed a group they hope will help change Nevada's strict juvenile justice laws.

The group of five stay-at-home moms, who have dubbed themselves "Moms on a Mission," are hoping the case of the 16-year-old boy charged with causing the crash that killed three of his friends will convince lawmakers that there should be some exceptions to state laws that charge children as adults.

In Nevada children 8 and older charged with murder, attempted murder and some sexual assaults are automatically tried in the adult system. In many other cases prosecutors can ask that a judge transfer the teen to the adult system because of the nature of the charges.

The teen, whose case is still in juvenile court, was charged in a Nov. 10 car crash that killed his passengers, 15-year-olds Travis Dunning, Josh Parry and Kyle Poff. Authorities say the teen's blood alcohol level was 0.19 -- more than nine times the legal limit for drivers under age 21.

Prosecutors have said that the case involving the Henderson teen is so serious that it deserves to be tried in the adult system. But the members of Moms on a Mission disagree. A Family Court judge will make the decision in during a hearing on Feb. 13.

Delise Sartini, who helped form the group, said she hopes people in the Las Vegas Valley will be so outraged by the teen's case that they write letters to their elected officials asking them to keep the case in the juvenile system.

The group of women, who have 15 children among them, will eventually push lawmakers to change state laws governing juvenile offenders, she said.

"Teenagers don't have the same decision-making skills or the same wisdom as adults," Sartini said. "Our stand is that, although he made the decision to drink and drive, there was no criminal intent to kill someone."

The group's members include Monica Guinn, the daughter of Gov. Kenny Guinn; and Sartini and Jill Fertitta, members of the family of gaming executives who own Station Casinos. None of them knows the teen charged in the crash or the victims who died, Sartini said.

"My world is my three children, football games and soccer practice," Sartini said. "All these women are exactly like myself. We are average, everyday mothers. This came from the heart. This truly was a grass-roots effort."

Sartini said the women were at a weekly prayer meeting when they saw news footage of the teen being pulled away from his weeping mother during a hearing in juvenile court.

Prosecutors had asked a Family Court judge to transfer the teen's case to the adult system and place him in custody after he'd already been released on house arrest. The teen cried as he was handcuffed and led out of the courtroom.

The women saw themselves in the eyes of the weeping mother, Sartini said.

"We were so saddened by the accident," she said. "Anytime a teenager dies, as a mom you think, 'Oh my God, that could be you.'"

Soon after the hearing, the women arranged a meeting with District Attorney David Roger "as citizens, as taxpayers," Sartini said. They told Roger that prosecutors should consider intent when determining whether to ask that a teen's case be tried in the adult system.

They also told Roger that they didn't believe prosecuting the teen as an adult would send a message to teenagers who could still choose to drink and drive.

"If you truly want to make an example out of him, make him do years of community service going into our schools and talking to teenagers about what happened," Sartini said.

Sartini said the meeting with Roger was an amicable one and that Roger was both patient and understanding. He told the women that a precedent had been set by the Nevada Supreme Court in a similar case. In 1991 the high court ruled that a 17-year-old boy should be certified as an adult after he drove with drugs and alcohol in his system, rear-ended a car and killed two people.

Sartini wasn't convinced that the precedent was a good one. "Just because there's a precedent set doesn't mean it's the right thing to do," she said.

The women are not the only ones who have given the prosecutor their opinions on the controversial case, Roger said. He said he has talked to people "on both sides" of the issue.

Some people feel the teen killed three people and should be tried as an adult while others say he made a tragic mistake, Roger said.

"I appreciate their input and their thoughts and I take them into consideration," he said. "But at the end of the day I have to do what I believe is right. If I'm not correct, there will be an appellate court that will tell me so."

Roger said Teresa Lowery, who heads the juvenile division of the District Attorney's office, asked him for input on the Henderson teen's case. Attorneys in the juvenile division "felt they should proceed with certification and I agreed with them ... because of the heinous nature of the crime," he said.

"The facts and circumstances of the case led us to believe certification was appropriate," Roger said. "If new information arises that shows he should not be certified, we can always withdraw our petition."

But members of Moms on a Mission say there are fundamental problems with the way Nevada handles juveniles charged with crimes. Primarily, the state's laws make no distinction between cases like the Henderson teen's and cases in which juveniles intentionally commit violent crimes, Sartini said.

She noted the case of 16-year-old Monique Maestas, who, along with her brother Beau, 19, was charged as an adult in the January 2003 stabbing attack in Mesquite that killed a 3-year-old girl and left her 10-year-old sister paralyzed.

"To put (the Henderson teen) in the same classification of those violent criminals to us seems heinous in itself," Sartini said.

Vickie Quinn, another member of the group, said the focus should be on preventing more drinking and driving accidents in the future, not making an example out of the teen charged. She said the court should order the teen to make presentations to other teenagers warning them about the dangers of drinking and driving.

"Our children need to learn the dreadful ramifications of driving drunk," she said.

Quinn said mandatory driver's education programs should also be brought back to Clark County high schools, before more teenagers become the victims of tragic accidents involving alcohol.

"He made a dreadful, disgusting, horrible mistake," Quinn said. "But I don't think throwing him in jail is going to get anyone's attention. It's not going to make my children or my friends' children pay attention to what he did."