‘What we’re doing isn’t working’: DA calls for stiffer DUI penalties after student’s death

Keenan Jackson, 37, faces charges of DUI resulting in death and reckless driving with death or serious bodily harm in connection with the crash around 11 a.m. Friday that claimed the life of 18-year-old McKenzie Scott near the school.

Police have said Jackson’s blood alcohol content was 0.29 percent, nearly four times the legal limit.

He appeared before Las Vegas Justice of the Peace Joseph Bonaventure for a brief hearing after his bail was set at $500,000 Saturday.

Bonaventure said prosecutors had filed a criminal complaint, a formal charging document, against Jackson. The judge appointed the public defender’s office to represent Jackson, who remained in jail custody and appeared to be crying.

Scott’s family sat quietly at the back of the courtroom. Her mother, Tiffany Reynolds, held up a photo of her daughter. She declined to comment after the hearing.

“They’re brave,” Wolfson said of Scott’s family. “They’re courageous. They want to see justice for their child and grandchild.”

But the district attorney said under current laws, he does not think Jackson will get enough prison time.

Will increasing penalties work?

Wolfson said there is pending legislation that would increase penalties on cases like Jackson’s.

He said he was referring to Senate Bill 309, which includes an increase in incarceration from second-time DUI offenders from a minimum of 10 days to 20, as well as Gov. Joe Lombardo’s crime bill, Senate Bill 457, which would subject fatal DUI offenders to five- to 25-year prison terms and allow second-degree murder punishments in some cases.

“Right now, I’ve said this many times before, the possible penalty in these kinds of cases is insufficient,” he said. “What we’re doing so far isn’t working. We’re having too many of these cases almost every single day in Las Vegas.”

Wolfson hopes harsher penalties will send a message that will deter people from driving under the influence. He encouraged members of the public to call their legislators to advocate for more punishment for DUI offenders.

“I don’t want McKenzie’s death and her life to have no meaning,” Wolfson said. “I want her life to have meaning moving forward.”

There is debate about whether increasing penalties actually limits crime.

“Certainty and swiftness of punishment matter far more than stacking on extra jail days or higher fines,” said Council on Criminal Justice senior fellow Thaddeus Johnson.

“Research agrees that quick, certain actions, like immediate license suspension or ignition‑interlock mandates, reduce alcohol‑related crashes,” Johnson said. “But simply raising fines or adding a few mandatory jail days shows little extra deterrence once those core measures are in place.”

Jeffrey Bellin, a William & Mary Law School professor who wrote a book about mass incarceration, said in an email that “longer sentences for crimes are generally not effective at deterring those crimes.”

That trend applies to fatal DUI cases, he added, “because drunk people don’t think they will be in a fatal accident when they get behind the wheel.”

According to the district attorney, Scott was on her way to get her cap and gown for graduation at the time of the crash.

Jackson is due back in court on May 27 for a preliminary hearing.

‘He wasn’t honest with me’

Krystal Jackson, Jackson’s fiancee who took his last name, said he had moved to Las Vegas in December after living in New York. He suffered from depression after his mother died in his arms and drank to cope with his pain in the past, she said.

But recently, he was doing well. His fiancee described him as an outgoing person, a great dad who had a daughter from a previous relationship and someone who worked, including in a security job and at a WrestleMania booth.

She said she had not seen him drinking since his move to Las Vegas. “I guess he was hiding it,” she said.

Jackson’s fiancee believes he snuck off with her car the day of the crash. She woke up Friday and didn’t see her car, she said.

Later, she said, Jackson called her and told her he had hit someone and was in jail. He said he had stopped to check on the victim, according to his fiancee, who didn’t realize the severity of the crash until she went to the school where it occurred and saw people with candles.

“That’s when I broke down, just started crying,” she said.

Still, she believes Jackson did not intend to hurt someone.

“He understands the gravity of his actions and is committed to making amends in any way he can,” she said. “While no words can bring comfort to the family who has lost their loved one, I want them to know that my fiance is deeply sorry. He will carry this regret with him for the rest of his life.”

Krystal Jackson isn’t sure what the future of her relationship with Keenan Jackson holds.

She said she thinks the crash could have been prevented if he had told her about what he was going through.

“I feel like he wasn’t honest with me,” she said. “That’s what hurts me the most.”

She is devastated what happened and thinks Jackson is too, that he was crying in court out of empathy for Scott’s family.

“She had her whole life in front of her,” she said of the victim.

Contact Noble Brigham at nbrigham@reviewjournal.com. Follow @BrighamNoble on X.