August 12, 2026

Las Vegas businessman sentenced to prison in fatal DUI wreck

Meet: Scott Gragson

Scott Gragson, executive vice president of Las Vegas land division with Colliers International, poses in a conference room at the company's Las Vegas office Thursday, Dec. 8, 2016. Photo by: Steve Marcus

A prominent Las Vegas businessman was sentenced Friday to 8 to 20 years in prison for a deadly drunken driving crash.

High-profile real estate broker Scott Russell Gragson pleaded guilty in February to drunk driving causing death and substantial bodily harm.

Gragson was driving a Range Rover that crashed into a tree following a March 2019 charity golf tournament that Gragson organized.

Melissa Newton, a mother of three, was killed and three other passengers were seriously injured.

“The impact here is so tremendous," District Judge Michael Villiani said as he sentenced Gragson, the grandson of a former Las Vegas mayor.

Prosecutors asked Villiani to sentence Gragson to beween 10 and 25 years in prison. Defense attorneys asked for a minimum six-year prison sentence.

Gragson read a prepared statement saying he felt pain, remorse and guilt and apologizing to families of the victims.