Not-guilty plea made in bus stop death

By Matt Pordum

Friday, June 18, 2004 | 9:41 a.m.

The man charged with crashing his truck into a Las Vegas bus stop on May 3, killing a 4-year-old boy and hospitalizing the child's mother pleaded not guilty Thursday.

Nicolas Serrano-Villagrana, 32, is scheduled to go to trial Aug. 9 before District Judge Joseph Bonaventure on felony charges of drunken driving resulting in death in connection with the accident in May that killed Angel Avendano.

Because the boy's 32-year-old mother, Eulogia Avendano, and a second woman, Nijailia Altitijka Graves, were injured in the crash, Serrano-Villagrana is also charged with two counts of felony DUI with substantial bodily harm.

Serrano-Villagrana's attorney, Philip Singer said he would be filing a written request asking Bonaventure to reduce Serrano-Villagrana's bail from $500,000 to $50,000.

Singer said a reduced bail is justified because his client is not a flight risk. Singer said Serrano-Villagrana has been in the U.S. for 15 years, currently has a valid application pending with INS and has several brothers, sisters and cousins supporting him in Las Vegas.

The state provided lab results during the last day of the preliminary hearing that indicated there was cocaine in Serrano-Villagrana's system at the time of the crash. Police also allege that his blood-alcohol level was more than 2 1/2 times the legal limit.

On the day of the crash police said witnesses pointed out Serrano-Villagrana as the driver and said they saw him throw an 18-pack of Bud Light out of the truck.

Singer said prosecutors have no credible witnesses that can place Serrano-Villagrana as the driver of the truck in the incident and he will counter any witnesses prosecutors bring forth with several of his own that say Serrano-Villagrana was not driving the vehicle.

Singer said an investigator he has hired is looking for the second person he contends was driving the car with Serrano-Villagrana.