Judge sets bail for 19-year-old driver accused of DUI in woman’s death

By Dave Toplikar

Wednesday, Aug. 17, 2011 | 9:08 a.m.

A Las Vegas judge today denied release on house arrest — but did set bail — for a 19-year-old man accused of DUI-related death in a traffic collision over the weekend that killed a Las Vegas woman.

Ivan Pantoja-Lizarraga was arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol involving an accident with death and failure to drive in the travel lane.

Pantoja-Lizarrago will have his next court date at 7:30 a.m. Friday, for a status check hearing to see if prosecutors have filed formal charges. His bail was set at $25,000 cash or $250,000 surety.

Police say that about about 12:33 a.m. Saturday, Pantoja-Lizarraga was driving a 1999 Mercedes Benz E320 north on Upland Boulevard when his car crashed into Maria Sotelo, 46, who was standing behind her Ford Ranger, which was parked in front of a residential driveway on Upland Boulevard north of Mayflower Lane.

Sotelo was taken by ambulance to University Medical Center's trauma unit, where she was pronounced dead after arrival.

At Pantoja-Lizarrago's 72-hour hearing this morning, Chief Deputy District Attorney L.J. O'Neale told Justice of the Peace William Klephart that the state has not yet filed formal charges because it is waiting on the results of a blood alcohol test.

"Your honor, we're asking for an additional three days. We're expediting the blood test, but it's not done yet," O'Neale said.

Pantoja-Lizarraga's attorney, Osvaldo Fumo, asked the judge to release the defendant on house arrest, pending formal charges being filed in three days.

O'Neale argued for keeping him in custody because it's a non-probational offense.

"This is a young man who has no particular reason to stay here. He hit and killed a pedestrian. And we're told when the pedestrian was killed he said, 'Oh, that's life,'" O'Neale said.

"That's absolutely not true," Fumo said. "What he said was 'Oh my God, why does life have to be like that?'"

Fumo argued that it was also not true that Pantoja-Lizarrago had no reason to stay and that his entire family was in the courtroom watching the proceedings. Fumo said the defendant has never had any conflict with the law and that his father has worked for Metro Police as a volunteer.

"He has great family ties to the community," Fumo said, telling the judge his family would assure his appearance in court.

"How are they going to do that?" O'Neale asked. O'Neale said that many people charged with felonies have the support of their families.

"We're talking about the risk of him not appearing in court when he's facing a potential 20 years in Nevada State Prison," O'Neale said.

"Which is very low," Fumo said quickly.

"And we're asking for three days to get the blood results," O'Neale said.

Fumo said that was fine, as long as the defendant could be released on his own recognizance or have house arrest, with electronic monitoring, as a condition.

"House arrest means you get a little bit more of a notice when they take off," O'Neale said. "House arrest doesn't guarantee anyone stays anywhere."

Fumo told that judge that keeping Pantoja-Lizarraga without bail didn't mean the state would have the charges ready to be filed in three days.

"If it's not ready in three days, they you can give all kinds of indignation," O'Neale said. "But in the meantime, you have someone who killed someone on the streets."

Kephart said the state is entitled to bail, but the problem is they don't have the complaint filed. The judge said he didn't think waiting three days for the paperwork to be filed was unreasonable.

Kephart said he would set bail, if the case is charged, at $25,000 cash and 10 times that for surety bond, which is the standard bail for such charges.

"It's probably low, as far as the state is concerned, but that's where I set it," Kephart said.

Kephart said at first that he could not set any bail because the state hasn't filed charges.

He asked O'Neale if charges could be filed by Friday. O'Neale said he didn't know because it takes about two days to get the blood test for alcohol.

Fumo asked if they could set a status check for Friday and set bail today.

Kephart agreed to do that, setting bail at $25,000 cash and 10 times that for surety.

"If the state doesn't have a case filed by that time, I'll release your client," Kephart said.