‘We believe his actions were intentional’: DA discusses murder charges against teen driver

Clark County District Attorney Steve Wolfson said Friday that he believes the actions of a teen driver in a crash that killed two were intentional.

Jose Gutierrez, 19, was arrested Tuesday after the 12-vehicle crash on West Cheyenne Avenue near North Jones Boulevard. His pregnant girlfriend, Adilene Duran Rincon, 20, and a driver from another vehicle, Edward Garcia, 38, died at the scene.

Wolfson said prosecutors plan to formally charge Gutierrez with two counts of open murder, a count of attempted murder and “a variety of other felonies.”

“We believe he was not impaired by alcohol or drugs and therefore we believe, based upon all the evidence to date, including a very descriptive video, that his actions were intentional, which gives rise to a charge of murder,” the district attorney said.

He added that Gutierrez’s view was not obstructed at the time of the crash and that the defendant apparently did not brake before the collision.

Wolfson made his comments to reporters after Gutierrez briefly appeared in court.

Police said Gutierrez was driving an Infiniti G37 at “a high rate of speed” and did not slow down before he hit vehicles stopped at a red light. Witnesses reported to police that the Infiniti was traveling around 100 mph in a 45 mph zone.

“He has to accept what he did, what happened,” said Gabriela Rincon, the female victim’s mother, in a phone interview Friday.

But, she said, she was not in a position to judge Gutierrez. “God is the only one (who) knows why,” she said.

Gutierrez, who was hospitalized after the crash, appeared in court with his left arm bandaged.

Hearing Master Daniel Westmeyer said he found probably cause for Gutierrez’s arrest.

Defense lawyer Thomas Moskal asked to delay a bail hearing until his client’s arraignment.

“Just let me get a little bit more information before I walk into the bail hearing,” he said.

Westmeyer agreed to continue the hearing.

Gutierrez remains in custody and is due back in court Tuesday.

Moskal declined to comment on his client’s version of events after court.

“We need to do something to stop this kind of driving behavior, not just this case,” said Wolfson. “As we all know, we all live here in Las Vegas, in the last couple of months, couple of years, there’ve been too many of these cases.”

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