Judge refuses to lower bail for suspect in DUI triple fatality
A Henderson judge on Wednesday said he would not lower bail for a DUI suspect accused of causing a crash that killed a Henderson woman and her two young sons.
Darryl Smith, 36, appeared in court on Wednesday for a bail hearing after his arrest in connection with the Jan. 7 crash at Lake Mead Parkway and Grand Cadence Drive. Smith is accused of ramming into the back of 38-year-old Rebecca Post’s vehicle while she was stopped at a red light, killing her and her two sons, 6-year-old Achilles Quintanilla and 5-year-old Leo Post-Quintanilla.
During an arraignment hearing last week, Chief Deputy District Attorney Tracy Hibbetts argued for Smith’s bail to be raised to $1 million. But Henderson Justice of the Peace David Gibson kept Smith’s bail at $225,000 on Wednesday, said Smith’s defense attorney, Thomas Moskal.
Moskal said he does not agree with the bail setting and had argued for the judge to set the bail at an amount that Smith could afford.
“Judge Gibson made it clear he does not expect Darryl Smith to make the bail,” Moskal said Wednesday.
Moskal said that his client is not a flight risk because of his familial ties to Las Vegas. He also argued that defendants in prior, higher-profile DUI cases had been granted lower bail amounts that they could afford.
“I just thought comparatively, he was being treated a little bit different,” Moskal said.
Hibbetts has argued that Smith “can’t be on the road” after the crash. The prosecutor did not respond to request for comment on Wednesday.
Smith has been charged with three counts of DUI and three counts of reckless driving resulting in death, court records show.
Police have said that speed and impairment were “contributing factors” in the fatal crash. A paramedic reported that after the crash, Smith “stumbled out” while appearing intoxicated and told police he had three glasses of wine and cough syrup, according to his arrest report.
A preliminary hearing in the case is scheduled for April 17.
Contact Katelyn Newberg at knewberg@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0240.
