Friday, Jan. 9, 2015 | 4:44 p.m.
A Las Vegas judge agreed Friday to postpone an initial court appearance for a 25-year-old Las Vegas man who was still recovering in the hospital following a Christmas Eve crash he's accused of causing that killed two women and injured him and four other people.
Ray Andrew Diokno's attorney, Michael Becker, said outside court that he hasn't been able to meet with his client, who faces multiple felony driving under the influence and reckless driving charges that could get him decades in state prison if he's convicted.
Justice of the Peace Suzan Baucum reset Diokno's court date for Jan. 16.
The wreck killed 81-year-old Etherine Noble and 63-year-old Essie Mae Hale of Las Vegas and injured 42-year-old Cotina Porter-Smith and a 1-year-old boy, both of Ellenwood, Georgia. The child was crying in a protective car seat when bystanders rushed to the wrecked vehicle, and wasn't reported to be seriously hurt.
Porter-Smith, Diokno and two 25-year-old passengers who were in his car, Jermayne Jefferson and Matthew Modelo, all received serious injuries in the crash late Dec. 24, police said.
The first police officer to arrive found Diokno still in the driver's seat of the wrecked BMW 330i, according to a police report filed with the court.
Witnesses reported seeing the four-door sedan drag-racing with another car at more than 100 mph before slamming broadside into the GMC Terrain driven by Porter-Smith was turning left on a wide straight street in northwest Las Vegas.
The other car made it through the red light at Cheyenne Avenue and Hualapai Way and disappeared, prosecutor Brian Rutledge said outside court.
Police said the GMC rolled over twice from the impact of the collision. Noble and Hale were pronounced dead in the demolished passenger side of the vehicle.
The BMW came to rest against a block property wall.
Diokno's blood-alcohol level measured 0.126 percent about 2½ hours after the crash, Rutledge said Friday. That's well above the legal limit of 0.08 percent.
The blood draw was delayed beyond a usual 2-hour testing window due to Diokno's injuries and the medical need for a CAT scan, the prosecutor said.
A police officer who reported speaking with Diokno in the trauma unit at University Medical Center said Diokno told him he had five shots of whiskey at a friend's house before the crash. Police reported finding two unopened bottles of beer in the BMW.
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