Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Man sentenced in DUI death of UNLV Rebel Girl

Lagerev arraignment

Mona Shield Payne / Special to the Sun

Vladimir Lagerev waits to be called by Justice of the Peace William D. Jansen during an arraignment in 2009 on felony DUI charges at the Regional Justice Center.

Updated Wednesday, May 4, 2011 | 12:26 p.m.

Remembering Lindsay Bennett (4-23-2010)

Rebel Girl Lindsay Bennett, right, dances with her team during a UNLV men's basketball game at the  Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas, Saturday, Feb. 14, 2009. Launch slideshow »

A Clark County District Court judge this morning handed down the maximum sentence to a man who was found guilty in the 2009 DUI-related death of UNLV Rebel Girl Lindsay Bennett.

Vladimir Lagerev, who was found guilty on March 1, was sentenced to 96 to 240 months, or eight to 20 years, by Judge Jessie Walsh.

Walsh handed down the sentence after hearing emotional appeals from Bennett's mother, father and brother to give the maximum sentence as a message to keep others from driving drunk and causing similar tragedies. More than a dozen of the victim's family and friends were at the sentencing hearing, including several who wore T-shirts bearing her image.

Lagerev traveled the wrong way on an interstate exit ramp, causing a head-on collision that led to the death of Bennett, an 18-year-old member of the Rebel Girls' dance team and a 2008 Coronado High School graduate.

Bennett died two days after the crash, which occurred about 9:30 p.m. April 15, 2009, on the Windmill off-ramp of Interstate 215. Police said her 2006 Honda was hit head-on by Lagerev's Acura.

Prosecutors say Lagerev had a blood-alcohol level of 0.20, more than twice the legal limit of 0.08.

After the sentence, outside the courtroom, the victim's mother, Jan Bennett, said she had not had time yet to fully process the sentencing.

"But I hope that the death of my daughter wakes up the community and makes them realize there needs to be stiffer laws and bigger consequences for taking a life and for choosing to drink and drive," Jan Bennett said.

Jan Bennett also told the Sun she wanted to thank the jury, the judge and the two prosecutors for their patience and in getting a conviction in the case.

"I hope we save lives," she said.

Along with the sentence of a minimum of 96 months and a maximum of 240 months in the Nevada Department of Corrections, Judge Walsh charged Lagerev for various administrative and testing fees, plus a $5,000 fine and $18,368 in restitution to the victim's family.

"Your reckless act has caused tragic consequences to the family members of the Bennett family," Walsh told Lagerev, who stood and faced the judge in his blue Clark County Detention Center uniform.

Defendant pledges not to drink again

Before sentencing, both Lagerev and his attorney, Stephen Stein, made appeals for a lighter sentence, citing Lagerev's previous good driving record, plus numerous character reference letters sent to the court on his behalf by those who knew him.

Stein, who called Lindsay Bennett's death a tragedy, said he had the "utmost sympathy" for the Bennett family.

Stein said Lagerev had a 3-year-old daughter who will also suffer while he is in prison. Stein said that the DUI case has also led Lagarev and his wife to get a divorce.

Lagerev, who is from Ukraine, spoke through an interpreter, telling the judge that he wanted to express his deepest sorrow to the family.

"With my driving record, I never had any driving accidents, prior," Lagerev said through the interpreter. "And after the tragedy happened, I swore that I would never have a drink again for the rest of my life."

Lagerev told the judge that his mother had died while he was in jail and he wasn't able to visit her before she had died.

Prosecutor: Terrorists, drunk drivers similar

At the beginning of the sentencing hearing, Deputy District Attorney Bruce Nelson told the judge that what struck him about the case was the emotion of a Nevada Highway Patrol trooper who was the first to arrive on the scene of the accident, and "still got choked up" during his testimony months after the accident.

Nelson said that while Lagerev might not have meant to have the accident, he did mean to drink alcohol and chose to drive afterward.

"If somebody were to walk into your court right now and toss a stick of dynamite into open court because they just wanted to play a joke on everybody, they don't intend to hurt anybody, but nonetheless, if the dynamite goes off and kills someone, they would be charged with murder," Nelson said. "Why? Because the act that they did was so inherently dangerous that it could fairly be described as murder. That person, that bomb-thrower, would get convicted of murder and go to prison for the rest of his life.

"But our society hasn't gotten to the point yet where we recognize DUI as a form of murder," he said. So the maximum isn't life imprisonment, he said.

Nelson said the eight- to 20-year sentence was an appropriate punishment, but with all the media coverage the case has had, "maybe, just maybe the next drunk driver, the potential drunk driver who is sitting in a bar just might remember what happened in this case and think twice about driving."

Nelson said it was "almost ironic in a Twilight Zone sort of way" that the sentencing is two days after Osama Bin Laden was killed by the U.S. military.

"Because drunk drivers and terrorists bear a lot of similarities," Nelson said. "They both kill for no reason. They both really don't know the person they are killing. They can kill anywhere or any time. And no one is truly safe from a terrorist or a drunk driver."

But there is one difference, he said. Going back to Sept. 11, 2001, Osama Bin Laden's terrorists killed 3,000 Americans, he said.

"That same year, 17,000 Americans died in alcohol-related collisions," he said. "So in that year alone, your chances of being killed by a terrorist were one-fifth of your chances at being killed by a drunk driver."

Defense attorney: Stronger sentence won't stop other DUIs

In response, Lagerev's attorney, Stein, said that imposing a strong punishment on his client to try to prevent others from drinking and driving "flies in the face of common sense, logic and experience."

Stein said the 17,000 death figure that Nelson cited might have decreased over the years, "but it is still way up there."

"Nothing you do will stop people from drinking and driving," he told the judge. "The only thing that will stop people from drinking and driving, in my humble opinion, is educating the youth of America so that in future generations people don't drive and drink."

Family members appeal for maximum sentence

The victim's brother, Andrew Bennett, spoke to the judge during the sentencing, saying that it's been 746 days since he last saw his sister, who had dinner with the family the night of the collision. He said he family has suffered and that his mother and father are victims as well, thanks to the actions of Lagerev.

"This man did not only kill my sister, but he killed someone's daughter, cousin, niece, granddaughter, teammate," he said.

Andrew Bennett said he has been speaking since that time to high school students as part of the "Every 15 Minutes" program to fight drunken driving.

"I ask you, your honor, to set an example in this case," he said. "As I go and educate my peers at school with Every 15 Minutes, I ask you to give me a chance to show that the state of Nevada and a jury of his peers did everything in this case to set an example and save lives in this community," Andrew Bennett said.

The victim's mother, Jan Bennett, also spoke to the judge, her voice breaking several times as she addressed the court, saying how much pain and suffering she has been going through since her daughter's death.

"Lindsay was sunshine. She was kind, warm and loyal. She loved her family and friends," her mother said. "Her life was taken by a selfish act of irresponsibility."

She said it was time for Lagerev to be brave and face up to his crime.

"You drank. You drove. And you killed someone. You killed my daughter, Lindsay Bennett," Jan Bennett said, asking the judge to hand down the stiffest punishment possible to send a message.

"Until there is fear and consequences, tragic fatalities will continue to happen," Jan Bennett said.

The victim's father, Michael Bennett, said that his family's lives have been "shattered."

"Like a mirror that has been shattered into a million little pieces, that is what my family and I are now left with," Michael Bennett said. "... Each shattered piece is a special memory: a dance, a hug, a laugh or a kiss."

"Imagine, if you can, a mother, a father, holding a daughter's hand while she has to take her last breath of life," he said. "No parent should ever have to witness this or be exposed to such a dramatic experience."

Michael Bennett said that many people in the community have by the family during the trial, including former UNLV men's basketball coach Lon Kruger and his team, who established the Lindsay Bennett LB3 Memorial Program.

"Collectively and still today we continue to get support and strength from the UNLV program and the Runnin' Rebel Girls. Hundreds, if not thousands of supporters support us for what we as a family are trying to accomplish," Michael Bennett said. "And that message is that there are consequences when individuals make wrong choices that impact so many families and so many lives."

He asked the judge to impose the maximum sentence of 20 years for Lagerev, saying "any sentence imposed less than that will send the wrong message to our community."

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