Monday, March 7, 2005 | 10:55 a.m.
The 17-year-old who is currently serving a two-year sentence at the Clark County Juvenile Detention Center for killing three 15-year-old friends in a November 2003 drunken driving crash is not receiving a proper education or counseling because of his very unusual detention situation, a group of mothers said on Thursday.
The youth is the first juvenile to ever serve his or her sentence at the county's juvenile facility, prison officials said.
The facility is normally used to house juveniles who are awaiting trial or sentencing. There are currently 176 youths there, and the average length of stay is 17 days.
Prosecutors and defense attorneys reached a deal in February 2004 that allowed the 17-year-old to avoid being tried as an adult as long as he remained at the Clark County juvenile center.
According to Clark County District Attorney David Roger, this ensured that the youth would serve the entire two-year sentence.
"What is the appropriate punishment for killing three people? Is it six months up at Mount Charleston? I don't think so," said Roger on Face to Face with Jon Ralston on Thursday. Roger was referring to the Spring Mountain Youth Camp near Mount Charleston, a low-security correctional facility operated by the Clark County School District.
The two-year sentence imposed on the youth is appropriate to the offense and justice has been served, Roger said.
Moms on a Mission disagrees and has denounced the lack of services available to the youth.
Because the Clark County Juvenile Detention Center's drug and mental health counseling and educational services are designed for short-time youth offenders, the 17-year-old offender does not have access to proper schooling and counseling services, said Delise Sartini, a member and spokeswoman for Moms with a Mission.
Without adequate rehabilitation, the youth could be in danger of returning to the prison system upon his release, Sartini said.
"He is not getting the services he would be getting at other youth detention facilities," Sartini said. "To me this means cruel and unusual punishment."
Unlike state-run youth detention facilities such as Caliente Youth Center in Caliente or the Nevada Youth Training Center at Elko -- which are specifically geared to provide long-term education and counseling to young offenders serving longer sentences -- the Clark County juvenile jail's programs are set up for juveniles who are staying about two weeks, she said.
For example, there are no group-style therapy sessions and there are no teachers at the facility, Sartini said.
"They have made accommodations to detain him, now they need to make accommodations to give him an education," she said.
A prison official conceded that there were certain services at the county's juvenile detention facility that are "different" than at long-term youth offender centers, but he said the facility is providing the 17-year-old with special services, above and beyond what is normally offered at the detention center.
"Is he receiving the same services? Not really," said Fritz Reese, assistant department head of the Clark Count Juvenile Justice Center.
While the youth does not attend standard prison therapy sessions, the prison has provided him with a full-time family therapist and counselor, Rich Harrison, who provides the teen with one-on-one drug and alcohol counseling and other mental health services, he said.
"We have put a lot of internal resources toward (the youth)," Reese said.
Part of the teen's sentence requires him to go to various schools to lecture on the dangers of drunk driving. Sometimes there are 10 speeches scheduled a week. He is required to perform 600 hours of community service.
This means that two to three full-time staff members must make arrangements and take the youth to these events, return him to the prison and provide counseling along the way, Reese said.
"We are concerned with his mental health," Reese said, who added, "This is a very unusual situation."
Roger said on Friday that the youth is receiving the education required by the Clark County School District.
"We can't lose sight of the fact that he agreed to a plea deal" that would require him to stay at the county's juvenile center for two years, he said. This is an appropriate punishment for a teen who killed three 15-year-olds, Roger said.
He said said the district attorney's office wanted to keep the teen at the Clark County Juvenile Detention Center to ensure that the county would have oversight of the 17-year-old and his sentence.
If the youth were to be placed at a state youth facility such as the Elko detention camp, he could be released after six months because the state would have the discretion as to the length of the youth's confinement, Roger said.
The youth killed three teens during the drunk driving accident: Josh Parry, Travis Dunning and Kyle Poff. Authorities at the time said he was driving 85 mph in a 25 mph zone and had a blood alcohol level of 0.19. The youth crashed the car into a brick wall in Henderson.
If charged as an adult, as the district attorney's office originally sought, the teen would have faced a sentence of two to 20 years for each death.
The case prompted debate among the public and members of the victims' families, partly because of the involvement of Moms with a Mission, which is made up of Sartini and Jill Fertitta, both related to executives with Station Casinos and Gov. Kenny Guinn's daughter Monica Guinn.
On Thursday, Roger suggested that an unidentified group was working behind the scenes and tried to convince his office to give the youth a lesser or different sentence. He said the man in charge of the Clark County Juvenile Detention Center head Kirby Burgess approached someone in his office last week, asking if the youth could be moved to the Spring Mountain center.
Burgess could not be reached for comment Friday.
Sartini denied the group ever tried to influence the outcome of this case and is not working to have the youth's sentence changed now. She said Moms with a Mission has been touring youth prisons since last fall to learn more about the services offered.
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