Woman receives prison term for killing boyfriend with car

A Las Vegas judge sentenced a 43-year-old woman to prison on Friday for running over her boyfriend and killing him in November 2020.

Defense attorney Joshua Tomsheck argued that Maylien Doppert, who pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter in October, should be sentenced to probation.

Tomsheck said Doppert did not believe that her boyfriend, James Dutter, had been injured when she hit him with her car. The attorney also said Dutter had preexisting medical conditions when he died five days later.

“I don’t see this as a circumstance that warrants a maximum punishment in prison, but I do see this as a circumstance that warrants prison because you did take this man’s life,” District Judge Tierra Jones said.

Jones sentenced Doppert to between 14 months and four years in prison. Doppert received credit for 10 months she already had spent in custody before posting bail.

The defendant initially faced a charge of murder with a deadly weapon in connection with Dutter’s death. A judge in September dismissed the charge, ruling that prosecutors improperly presented statements that Dutter gave to police after he was hit.

Doppert struck Dutter on Nov. 24, 2020, at 4110 Sanderling Circle, near Desert Inn Road and Arville Street. Police who were called to the condominium complex found Dutter on the ground, seriously injured, in a pool of blood. He had no sensation in his legs or left arm, but he was conscious.

The woman told police that the two were breaking up, and that Dutter was packing his Mustang with his belongings when she arrived. The couple started to argue, with Doppert accusing Dutter of stealing her belongings. He said he initially avoided being hit as Doppert drove her Mitsubishi Mirage at him, but Doppert ultimately reversed her car and struck him.

Tomsheck said that as the couple were fighting, Dutter threatened her and threw a television at her windshield while she was in the car.

Doppert did not say anything as she stood with her head down next to her attorney during Friday’s hearing.

Dutter’s mother, Cathy Calderon, sobbed as she asked the judge to order the maximum sentence for Doppert.

“My son was given a death sentence, and I was given a life sentence,” Calderon said. “She should be given the max of 10 years at least, with no sympathy.”

Calderon said she still dreams of her son lying injured in a parking lot. Dutter was her only child, Calderon said, and she still carries around a lock of his hair.

“Jimmy might not have been perfect, and I’m not saying he was,” she said. “But he was mine.”

Contact Katelyn Newberg at knewberg@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0240. Follow @k_newberg on Twitter.