IN BRIEF
HIGH RATE OF SPEED
Single-vehicle accident kills 17-year-old male
A 17-year-old male was pronounced dead at the scene of a single-vehicle accident Tuesday night on Centennial Center Boulevard near Ann Road.
The Clark County coroner's office identified the victim as Pierino Yohanes Halley of Las Vegas.
Halley was the passenger of a 2005 Nissan Altima traveling south on Centennial Center about 8:02 p.m.
Las Vegas police said the car's driver, also 17, changed lanes at a high rate of speed and lost control of the vehicle, which hit a water irrigation box, a light pole and two palm trees.
The driver was taken to University Medical Center for minor injuries.
Halley died of multiple blunt force injuries in what was ruled an accident.
COLLEGE STUDENT'S DEATH
Postponement of trial in slaying rejected
A judge refused Wednesday to postpone the trial of a man accused of raping and killing a 19-year-old California college student and raping two Reno women.
Washoe District Judge Robert Perry ruled James Biela's trial will start on Feb. 22, as scheduled.
Biela is charged with kidnapping and strangling 19-year-old Brianna Denison, who disappeared from the couch of a friend's Reno home in January 2008. Denison's body was found Feb. 15. An autopsy showed that the Santa Barbara City College sophomore had been raped and strangled.
Biela has pleaded not guilty. He could face the death penalty if convicted.
Washoe County Chief Deputy Public Defender Maizie Pusich had asked for a three-month delay because she said she is struggling to read 35,000 pages of evidence.
"I'm disappointed in the court's decision," she said.
