New evidence emerges in bus stop tragedy

Clark County District Attorney Steve Wolfson said authorities discovered a third blood test of Hosey, the suspect charged in the Sept. 13 bus stop crash, which killed four people and injured eight others.

Previous blood tests listed Hosey’s blood alcohol level at 0.06 percent two hours after the crash and 0.05 percent three hours after the crash. Both of those levels are below Nevada’s legal limit of 0.08 percent, Wolfson said.

The third test, taken within two hours of the crash, listed Hosey’s blood alcohol content above the legal limit, according to prosecutors.

Wolfson said the third test was discovered shortly before Friday’s hearing.

“We just learned about it two hours ago,” he said after the hearing.

The charges against Hosey were amended Friday to reflect the new test.

Wolfson declined to say why investigators only learned of the test more than a week after the accident, nor would he give the specific result.

“Logic says (Hosey’s blood alcohol content) would be higher at the time he was driving,” he said.

Hosey’s lawyers, Dayvid Figler and Kristina Wildeveld, did not know about the third test before the hearing.

“I think it’s highly irregular for a third test to suddenly emerge,” Wildeveld said.

Figler said the two blood tests seen by the defense put Hosey’s blood alcohol content under the legal limit, although Hosey was over the limit for marijuana.

But that didn’t mean Hosey was under the influence of marijuana at the time of the crash, Figler said.

“That’s political law, not science,” he said. “There’s really no way to say when the THC was ingested. It could have been 12 hours or more.”

THC, or tetrahydrocannabinol, is the principal ingredient in marijuana.

Figler said there seemed to be initial confusion among authorities about who was driving. Police initially reported the driver suffered a broken back and a collapsed lung, but Hosey’s injuries were much less severe, he said.

Hosey told police that before the crash, he drank only one beer with friends at an Ethiopian bar near the bus stop at Spring Mountain Road and Decatur Boulevard.

Police said the 2001 Monte Carlo went airborne at the intersection and slammed into the crowded bus stop about 6:30 a.m.

Gerber Hernan Ayala-Tomasino Jr., 24, Johnni Lee Garner, 49, Margoth Gonzalez, 65, and Hyon Cooley, 47, were killed in the crash.

Hosey did not speak in court and kept his head down as his lawyers argued for a different judge. Figler said Justice of the Peace Conrad Hafen, one of two judges who specialize in DUI cases, could be biased.

Figler also argued that Hafen violated Hosey’s rights by not releasing him from jail on Monday during his first appearance. At the time, prosecutors had not filed charges as they awaited initial blood test results.

Hafen rejected the motion, and Chief Deputy District Attorney Brian Rutledge called Figler’s motion “meritless.”

Nichelle Garner, daughter of victim Johnni Lee Garner, attended the hearing but did not speak with reporters afterward.

Her friend Sarah Leal, 27, also attended the hearing. She said Garner was too emotional to talk.

Rutledge declined to comment after the hearing.

Figler said alcohol and marijuana were not significant factors in the crash. The driver of the car will be prosecuted, but speed was the main factor in the accident, he said.

“We’re making sure the right penalties are enforced,” he said.

Hosey’s preliminary hearing was set for Oct. 19.