Driver who left accident scene receives probation

By Matt Pordum (contact)

Wednesday, June 8, 2005 | 9:13 a.m.

A 34-year-old real estate agent who authorities say caused a rock to fly through the windshield of a woman's car, killing her, was sentenced to four years' probation Tuesday despite a plea from the victim's family for prison time.

Robert Rink had previously entered a conditional guilty plea to one count of involuntary manslaughter for the July 11, 2003, incident that killed 31-year-old Michelle Rogers.

As part of the negotiation, Chief Deputy District Attorney L.J. O'Neale said he would oppose District Judge Michelle Leavitt's sentencing Rink to probation with an underlying suspended sentence of one to four years in prison.

Leavitt followed the negotiation on Tuesday, sentencing Rink to four years' probation, which was a decision supported by the Department of Parole and Probation's pre-sentencing report.

The judge also ordered Rink to perform 120 hours of community service, undergo any substance abuse counseling required by his probation officer and pay $10,452 in restitution.

For Rogers' mother, Norma Dawes Ball, the plea agreement achieved nothing close to a sense of justice for her daughter's death and she urged Leavitt to "send Mr. Rink to trial and let the citizens make the determination."

"Send a message that he (Rink) must pay for his reckless behavior," Ball said.

If Leavitt would have sentenced Rink to prison on Tuesday, he could have withdrawn the deal and gone to trial.

Ball said giving Rink probation would "establish a new benchmark" for others who can now "enter a plea bargain and suffer no consequences and get away with a death."

She said if Leavitt followed the negotiation it would be like treating her daughter's death "like stamping out a cigarette when you're finished with it."

Rink originally faced two to 15 years in prison on the charge of leaving the scene, one to six years on the reckless driving charge, one to four years on the involuntary manslaughter charge and up to one year in prison for a gross misdemeanor destruction of evidence charge.

The Nevada Highway Patrol said Rink was driving his BMW over 90 mph on the Las Vegas Beltway near Charleston Boulevard when his car kicked up the rock that flew through the windshield of Rogers' Volkswagen Passat.

A rock hit Rogers in the head. She died five days later.

Although Rink's case was originally perceived as a freak accident, it became more of a mystery after Rink left the scene and was seen transferring boxes out of his car with an unidentified person a short time later.

The BMW was later found burned in a parking lot near the Las Vegas Beltway and Industrial Road. A plastic bottle containing gasoline was found inside the car, authorities said.

That's why he was originally charged with destruction of evidence.

Rink told authorities that he left his car in the parking lot and two other individuals broke into his car and set it on fire. Ball didn't buy the story.

"He's (Rink) making a mockery of the justice system," Ball said. "He says he left his car in a parking lot and someone else destroyed it. How was it and why was it his car was destroyed so quickly?'

O'Neale said the main reason the plea agreement was offered to Rink was because a recalculation of the scene reconstruction performed by former Metro Detective Steve Winne -- who was hired by Rink's attorneys -- put the speed Rink was driving at between 69 and 71 mph.

The Nevada Highway Patrol, however, stands by its determination that Rink was driving 97 mph.

Ball said regardless if Rink was driving between 69 and 71 mph that speed is well above the 55 mph speed limit posted at the stretch of road where the incident occurred.

"What's the point of having posted speed limits if everyone can exceed them and not be held accountable?" Ball asked.

O'Neale defended his decision to offer the plea agreement to Rink, saying "under the law and facts we could prove we feel this was a just result and a just sentence."

He said if the conflicting speed studies would have been presented to a jury at trial, reasonable doubt would have been the most likely result.

"It's the hardest thing in the world for a parent to have to bury a child," O'Neale said. "It's understandable they are angry, sorry and feel that someone has to pay a prison term equal to their loss.

"We understand the depth of the sorrow in this case, but we have to go forward according to the law and according to what we can prove."

Ball questioned whether such a plea agreement would have been offered if a "prominent person" was the victim, someone related to a mayor, judge, district attorney or even Rink.

O'Neale rejected Ball's insinuation that Rink wouldn't have been offered the deal if Rogers was a "prominent person."

"It doesn't matter to us who the victim is in the sense we don't treat any victim as being more valuable than another victim. They are all equally valuable."