Man gets DUI charge in Las Vegas crash; newborn baby killed

Prosecutors have filed a charge of DUI resulting in death against a man accused of driving drunk and causing a crash that injured a pregnant woman and killed her baby boy, who was delivered at a hospital but did not survive.

Clark County District Attorney Steve Wolfson said after a Tuesday hearing for Maximiliano Chavez, 27, that the case may be the first of its kind for his office.

“There are some states that speak to whether or not a prosecutor can charge a DUI death of an unborn child,” the district attorney said. “My understanding is Nevada law is silent on that.”

The Metropolitan Police Department said Chavez caused a four-vehicle crash at West Blue Diamond Road and Las Vegas Boulevard South on Saturday afternoon. In addition to the child who died, a 9-year-old and the pregnant mother suffered life-threatening injuries.

Police said Chavez ran a red light. Wolfson said Chavez was speeding and has prior convictions for speeding and DUI.

DA: child had heartbeat

The child has been named “Baby Boy Dauz,” Wolfson said. His mother, about 29 weeks pregnant, “sustained substantial injuries to her abdomen,” he told reporters. There was no fetal heartbeat detected, he said, and an emergency cesarean section was performed.

After delivery, the baby had a heartbeat and a doctor tried for about 20 minutes to save his life before pronouncing him dead, Wolfson said.

“The fact that the child was breathing and they tried to resuscitate him for 20 minutes, that says something,” the district attorney said.

To prove the child died from injuries suffered in the crash, he said, prosecutors will likely need to have a doctor testify that “but for this accident, the child would have survived.”

State law says that “a person who willfully kills an unborn quick child” by injuring the mother is guilty of manslaughter.

But Wolfson said the statute did not seem applicable to Chavez’s case because it mandates that the offender know or have reason to believe the victim is pregnant.

What experts think

David Roger, who served as district attorney before Wolfson, is skeptical of the charging decision.

“I wouldn’t charge it,” he said. “I think it’s a stretch. I think some people will question the motives for filing this charge under this type of circumstance.”

The state Legislature has not created DUI laws for this kind of situation, he added.

Frank Coumou, a former prosecutor in the district attorney’s office, said he has seen prosecutions for the deaths of unborn children in domestic violence cases.

In a fatal DUI case, he said, prosecutors would have to look at the age of the unborn child. It matters whether the baby is a “quick child,” meaning one that would be viable outside the womb, he said.

Coumou praised Wolfson for his decision to charge Chavez, calling it “novel.”

Las Vegas defense attorney Justin Wilson said he was unaware of any cases in which a defendant was charged with DUI with death for an unborn child.

A baby counts as a second person in common law if the child is past the point of viability, generally 24 weeks, said Wilson.

In another pending DUI case, a man named Christopher Walker is on trial this week and accused of killing Suzanne Chapel in a crash last year.

Chapel was about two months pregnant, according to Isaiah Armstrong, her boyfriend and the child’s father. Walker was not charged with the death of the unborn child.

Sandy Heverly, a victim advocate who is executive director of Stop DUI, said she encountered a case about 10 years ago in which a woman five months pregnant was injured and her baby died.

She recalled that prosecutors chose not to include the baby’s death in the defendant’s charges.

“It was the whole controversy about when does life begin,” said Heverly.

She could not remember the names of those involved in the prior case.

‘Hopes he did not hurt anybody’

Chavez told investigators that he had finished drinking three micheladas, or beer-based cocktails, at a North Las Vegas swap meet about two hours before the crash, according to a Metro report released Tuesday. He also admitted to smoking a marijuana pen around the same time.

Chavez’s speech pattern was “slurred, mumbled, confused and slow,” an officer wrote in the report. “His gait was unsteady, and he was crying.”

On Saturday, police said, Chavez had expressed concern for his passenger’s well-being, at one point “stating he hopes he did not hurt anybody.”

The arrest report said officers found an empty beer can in his Jeep Grand Cherokee.

According to police, Chavez was driving 61 mph — about 6 mph over the limit — seconds before the crash.

Chavez and nine other people in the four vehicles suffered minor injuries, police said.

The district attorney said Chavez’s blood alcohol concentration was 0.10 percent in one sample and that he believed it was 0.08 percent in another sample. The legal limit is 0.08 percent.

During the short Tuesday hearing, Las Vegas Pro Tem Justice of the Peace Holly Stoberski informed Chavez that he was being charged with at least six counts, including DUI resulting in substantial bodily harm and DUI resulting in death.

Chavez confirmed that he understood.

Stoberski said Chavez’s $250,000 bail already had been posted and that he was awaiting release on electronic monitoring.

The judge also appointed the public defender’s office to represent Chavez, whose preliminary hearing was set for Sept. 22.

“I’m angry,” the district attorney said. “This should not have happened. I’m challenging this community, I’m challenging the people in the Las Vegas Valley to slow down. What’s the rush every single day?”

Contact Noble Brigham at nbrigham@reviewjournal.com. Follow @BrighamNoble on X. Review-Journal reporter Ricardo Torres-Cortez contributed to this report.