Hearing set in DUI case for man who said he was ‘too drunk’ to drive

By Dave Toplikar

Monday, Sept. 13, 2010 | 11:34 a.m.

A man who volunteered to Metro Police he was "too drunk" to drive after he was involved in a fatal collision in April in Las Vegas is expected to have another court date in four to six weeks.

Jacques Norton, 23, was arrested April 4 on a charge of DUI-related death after a crash that killed Robert Childress Jr., 52, Las Vegas.

Norton, who is under house arrest and must wear an ankle bracelet monitoring device, was scheduled to have a preliminary hearing this morning in Las Vegas Justice Court. However, Norton's attorney, Richard Schonfeld, told Justice of the Peace Diana Sullivan he was withdrawing from the case.

Sullivan appointed the public defender's office to represent Norton.

Prosecutors notified the judge and Norton they would be seeking a grand jury indictment against him, which would move the matter on to Clark County District Court.

Sullivan told Norton if he was not indicted by a grand jury, he would have his preliminary hearing on the charge at 9:30 a.m. Oct. 25 in her court.

According to a Metro Police report, Norton was driving a 2005 Chrysler PT Cruiser about 5:52 a.m. Sunday, April 4, east on Charleston Boulevard, approaching Main Street, when the crash occurred.

Witnesses told police they saw Norton driving at a high rate of speed and that he didn't stop for a red light at Main Street.

Norton's car struck a 1980 Mercedes 300SD driven by Childress, which was traveling north on Main Street and had a green light, the police report said.

Norton's vehicle struck Childress' car on the driver's side in the center of the vehicle, police said. Childress' Mercedes was redirected east on Charleston and came to rest 144 feet from the point of impact, the arrest report said.

Childress was not breathing and was declared dead at the scene, the police report said.

Norton was redirected by the collision in a northeast direction and came to rest in the westbound lanes on Charleston, facing east, 128 feet from the point of impact, police said.

"Norton had no idea he hit another vehicle," the arrest report said. "He stated he hit a fire hydrant and he wanted to know how bad his vehicle was."

When an investigating officer approached Norton's vehicle, the officer "could immediately smell the odor of an alcoholic beverage on his breath," the report said.

"Norton stated that he drank four to five drinks last night, vodka and tonics, at the club," the report said. "Norton could not remember what club he was at nor where he was coming from at the time of the crash. He only knew he was heading home."

Norton also told the officer that he took 15 mg of Celexa, an antidepressant drug, once a day and that he took at least five pills around 6 p.m. the night before, the officer said.

The officer said Norton thought that he was driving on Las Vegas Boulevard and had no idea what the cross street was.

"Norton, out of the blue, stated, 'I can't drive home. I'm too drunk,'" the police report said.

The officer said Norton could not stand up without help from officers or resting up against the patrol vehicle. Norton also thought that the date was Monday, May 1, and, although the sun was fully up, he thought the time was 4 a.m., the report said.

The report said a preliminary breath test on Norton found he had a result of 0.149. That compares to the .08 blood alcohol threshold of being legally intoxicated.

"Norton failed all tests, and was placed under arrest for DUI death, alcohol and drugs," the police report said.

Two more blood samples were taken from Norton that morning, within about 3.5 hours of the accident, before he was booked into the Clark County Detention Center, the report said. However, those results were not listed in the report.