Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

DUI trial for Nevada assemblyman is pushed back to July

Richard Carrillo

Carson City Sheriff / AP

This undated booking photo provided by the Carson City Sheriff shows Nevada Assemblyman Richard Carrillo. Carrillo was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence and possessing a firearm while intoxicated, officials said Friday, Feb. 27, 2015.

CARSON CITY — A Carson City judge set a late July trial date for a Nevada assemblyman who was charged with driving under the influence and possessing a firearm while intoxicated after being found asleep in his parked car near the Capitol while the Legislature was in session.

Judge John Tatro declined defense attorneys' request to dismiss the case against Democratic Assemblyman Richard Carrillo, and instead scheduled a half-day trial for July 27.

Deputies say the Las Vegas lawmaker was found asleep in the driver's seat of his idling car early the morning of Feb. 27, after reportedly leaving a bar near the Capitol. The arresting officer wrote that Carrillo had his hand on the gear shift and his foot apparently on the pedal, and had a loaded .22-caliber pistol in his front pocket.

Tests later revealed that Carrillo's blood alcohol content was 0.10 percent at the time of arrest, which is above the legal driving limit of 0.08.

Carrillo's attorney, Larry Dunn, requested at a hearing Wednesday that the trial be postponed because a private security company's dash camera video of the incident came to his attention just this week.

"We don't like trial by ambush," Dunn said.

Carson City Deputy District Attorney Amy Steelman defended the department's actions, and said her office only became aware of the video last week after an employee for the security company remembered using his dash cam the night of the arrest.

"This is one of those fluke situations where lines got crossed," she said.

The video could serve to exonerate Carrillo, Dunn said, because it suggests Carrillo was in his car to stay warm and was waiting for a ride.

Administrators at the Nevada Department of Motor Vehicles have already reversed the suspension of Carrillo's driver's license. They determined that officers didn't have reason to believe Carrillo was in actual physical control of his vehicle while he was intoxicated, according to Carrillo's attorney, Karena Dunn.

Carrillo, a third-term Democrat who was at the hearing Wednesday, declined to comment further on the case.

Sun reporter Cy Ryan contributed to this story.

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