Murder charge could be brought in fatal accident

By Matt Pordum (contact)

Thursday, July 1, 2004 | 8:13 a.m.

A driver who hit and killed a 28-year-old woman on U.S. 93 north of Las Vegas on June 18 could soon be facing a charge of second-degree murder and federal charges of allegedly transporting illegal immigrants, prosecutors said Wednesday in urging a judge to avoid postponing a preliminary hearing.

Jose Manuel Soto-Cabrales, 25, is currently charged only with leaving the scene of an accident and failing to render assistance. Those charges don't merit the $500,000 bond that has been set for him, his lawyer said.

Chief Deputy District Attorney Clark Peterson said the district attorney's office could amend the charges as early as next week.

Nevada Highway Patrol troopers say Soto-Cabrales was smuggling two illegal immigrants from Arizona to Washington when he hit April Coleman of Las Vegas. After hitting her, Soto-Cabrales took her off the windshield of his car, and left her on the side of the road to die, authorities allege.

Troopers later found the car abandoned several miles from the scene of the collision. Soto-Cabrales and the two immigrants who had allegedly been riding with him were found and arrested on the morning of June 19.

Las Vegas Justice of the Peace Ann Zimmerman scheduled a preliminary hearing for Soto-Cabrales for July 15.

At Wednesday's hearing, Zimmerman was considering postponing Soto-Cabrales' preliminary hearing after he said through a Spanish interpreter that he wasn't sure if he could afford an attorney or if he would want to have one appointed to him by the court.

Peterson objected, arguing the case was time-sensitive because the two illegal immigrants allegedly are facing deportation and prosecutors need them to testify or at the very least be deposed for the preliminary hearing. Peterson requested that Zimmerman appoint an attorney, and if need be a private attorney could take over if Soto-Cabrales retained one.

Peterson said the preliminary hearing had to be scheduled as soon as possible because he wasn't sure how long the Immigration and Naturalization Service would hold the two illegal immigrants.

Zimmerman said she was "shocked that INS would not hold them (the two illegal immigrants)" so they could testify.

As Zimmerman was about to appoint an attorney from the public defender's office to represent Soto-Cabrales, the entire question of legal representation quickly became moot. Attorney Joseph Scalia stepped forward and said he would represent Soto-Cabrales.

Scalia said all initial indications suggested Soto-Cabrales is not a murderer, but instead a man simply involved in a traffic accident, which unfortunately resulted in the loss of life.

"There was a pedestrian in the road at 3 a.m. on a dark, remote highway," Scalia said. "This was an accident and my client had no cell phone to contact anyone for help. The allegation that he was smuggling immigrants is not true either. The fact is the passengers just happened to be illegal immigrants and he was driving from Arizona to Washington so he could get to work."

Scalia asked Zimmerman to consider lowering Soto-Cabrales' $500,000 bail, but she declined, saying the issue would be dealt with at the preliminary hearing, which she scheduled for July 15.