Zaon Collins released from ankle monitor, hopes to enroll in college

Former UNLV basketball recruit Zaon Collins was released from electronic ankle monitoring Tuesday after telling a judge he would like to start college.

Collins, who stood next to his lawyer in front of Judge Ann Zimmerman, said he works out and practices basketball, but he would enroll in college if the ankle monitor was removed.

“There’s never been an issue of appearing in court,” defense attorney attorney Richard Schonfeld said Tuesday. “He has an exemplary history on one and a half years of house arrest.”

Collins is accused of driving 88 mph in a 35 mph zone and being impaired by marijuana on Dec. 30, 2020, when he was involved in a crash that killed 52-year-old Eric Echevarria.

Las Vegas police have said Collins had 3 nanograms of THC per milliliter of blood in his system. The legal limit for drivers in Nevada at the time of the crash was 2 nanograms per milliliter.

Collins’ lawyers argued Tuesday that the level of THC in Collins’ system was so low, it could have been consumed days before the crash and that they have presented a case to the Nevada Supreme Court arguing the 2 nanograms limit was arbitrarily set.

Zimmerman asked Collins if he would enroll in college while still on high-level electronic ankle monitoring and he shook his head silently. He nodded to confirm that he would enroll if he was released to intensive supervision, but he did not state to which college he would apply.

The week after the crash, then-Rebels coach T.J. Otzelberger announced they had dropped the recruit for the 2021-22 team.

Prosecutors said Tuesday that although the grand jury did not indict Collins on driving while impaired, they still planned to pursue the charge, along with one count of reckless driving resulting in death.

Collins is scheduled to appear in court again in September.

Contact Sabrina Schnur at sschnur@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0278. Follow @sabrina_schnur on Twitter.