Driver fails to appear at trial

Vergus Bailey had to move out of the apartment she shared with her daughter, Samantha Allen, who died when an SUV smashed into the bus stop outside their residence.

"I couldn't stay there no more. I'd be hearing my daughter's voice," Bailey said.

But these days, she finds herself confronting a different phantom, that of Veronica Schmidt, the driver who killed Allen, 36, and three others March 14, 2005.

Schmidt is alive, and on trial in a civil case brought by families of the victims, but no one can find her.

Attorneys wrapped up closing arguments Monday night in the case, which also names the city of Las Vegas as a defendant.

The jury will decide whether Schmidt knew she was incapable of driving a vehicle and whether the city negligently placed the bus stop too close to the road. Jurors will also decide whether to award monetary damages to the victims' families.

As of late Monday evening, a verdict had not been reached.

Schmidt's attorney, Phillip Emerson, said he hired an investigator on three occasions to find Schmidt and that her presence could never be secured at a deposition or at the week-long trial.

"She'd have to be on another planet to not know she's being sued," District Judge Michelle Leavitt told Emerson.

Schmidt lost control of the wheel and crashed her Ford Explorer into the bus shelter on Smoke Ranch and Rock Springs roads, where Allen, sisters Raquel and Angelica Jiminez, 16 and 14 respectively, and their friend, 16-year-old Reginald Williams, were killed.

Schmidt, suffering from a bipolar disorder and recovering from knee surgery, had the prescription drug Xanax in her system.

Her attorneys have argued Schmidt was taking therapeutic amounts of the anti-anxiety drug and that she suffered from a medical heart condition, diagnosed after the crash, which causes sudden loss of consciousness.

Emerson said she received a dual-chamber pacemaker in October 2005 to prevent future "syncope episodes."

The district attorney's office declined to file felony charges against Schmidt and said there wasn't enough evidence to conclude the drug in her system caused the accident.

She entered an Alford plea to misdemeanor charges of driving under the influence of prescription drugs and reckless driving, receiving a year's probation. The plea is not an admission of guilt but acknowledges that if the case were to go to trial, there would be sufficient evidence for a conviction.

A judge could find her in violation of her probation and give her jail time if she appears at a revocation hearing scheduled in Municipal Court Dec. 4. If she does not appear, a warrant for her arrest could be issued.

Her attorney declined to comment to the Review-Journal, but told Leavitt she could not be expected to show up to trial because his office couldn't find her to tell her when the trial occurred.

"Is she in Hawaii? Is she still in Las Vegas? The point is she had no notice as far as my office is concerned," Emerson said.

"Our main thing was for Veronica to pay somehow, but that didn't happen," said Clara Guardado, Raquel and Angelica's mother.

The judge dismissed some of the defendants, including Viacom Outdoor Inc., which merged with the company that designed and owned the bus structure, and the Regional Transportation Commission.

The families contend the city of Las Vegas is responsible for the placement of the bus stop too close to the curb.

If the jury returns with a monetary award, plaintiff's attorneys said the city probably would pay because Schmidt is missing.

R. Duane Frizell, who represents family members and did not ask the jury for a specific dollar amount, said he plans to appeal to the Nevada Supreme Court Leavitt's dismissal of RTC and Viacom from the lawsuit.

He has argued that the city violated industry standards by placing the bus stop only five feet from the curb. At eight feet away, he said, it would not have been hit by the vehicle.

City attorney Philip Byrnes disputed that assessment and argued that Citizens Area Transit's guidelines recommend bus stops be five feet from the curb.

Outside Leavitt's courtroom, Bailey described how Schmidt's vehicle tore apart the bus shelter, adding that its roof was perpendicular to the sidewalk.

"I heard it, the sound. It sounded like lightning," she said.

She put on her slippers and stepped outside her apartment.

"All I saw was the young man, lying in the street," she said, referring to Williams.

A neighbor told her four people had died.

She said she went inside and prayed for their souls.

"Didn't know I was praying for my daughter too."

Contact reporter K.C. Howard at khoward@reviewjournal.com or (702) 380-1039.