LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — A DUI driver who admitted to having “a few drinks” earlier than leaving a on line casino and killing a motorcyclist will serve a minimum of three years in jail, a decide dominated Monday.
Edward Dukes, 28, killed Joshua Yokley, 43, outdoors of the Sante Fe Station Lodge & On line casino on April 7.
Yokley was driving a bike on Lone Mountain Street close to Rainbow Boulevard when Dukes drove out of a on line casino’s parking zone and collided with Yokley’s bike, police stated. Dukes informed police he had “a few drinks inside” the on line casino earlier than the crash.
Throughout a sentencing listening to Monday, Clark County District Court docket Choose Jennifer Schwartz sentenced Dukes to 3-12 years in jail. Earlier than Schwartz handed down her sentence, Dukes’ legal professional famous his consumer’s regret and lack of felony report.
Joshua Yokley, 43, (proper) died in April after police stated a suspected DUI driver crashed into him. Yokley was driving a bike on Lone Mountain Street close to Rainbow Boulevard when Edward Dukes, 28, drove out of a Sante Fe Station parking zone and collided with the bike, police stated. (Kayla Padgett)
“This country itself has to do something about drunk drivers, period,” Yokley’s father, John Henry, stated throughout the sentencing. “I’ve had three friends before my son was killed, killed by drunk drivers. One person was just backing out of his driveway. Something has got to be done about it.”
Nevada’s DUI-with-death regulation carries a possible jail sentence of 2-20 years. Nonetheless, a bipartisan 1995 regulation requires a decide to condemn an individual to a minimal and most sentence, that means in instances of DUI with demise, the utmost period of time a defendant will spend in jail with no parole listening to is eight years.
Yokley’s longtime girlfriend, Kayla Padgett, and good friend, Mike Bracke, spoke with the 8 Information Now Investigators in Might to plead with lawmakers to toughen Nevada’s DUI legal guidelines.
Two proposals on the desk this previous legislative session, which ended June 2, would have toughened penalties for DUI drivers. Senate Invoice 304 would have amended the state’s vehicular murder regulation to kick in after an individual’s first DUI conviction ought to they then drive impaired and kill somebody. A second proposal, Senate Invoice 457, which was a part of Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo’s crime invoice, would have charged DUI drivers who kill with second-degree homicide.
Each didn’t turn into regulation. Lawmakers is not going to reconvene, apart from particular circumstances on the request of the governor, till February 2027.
Dukes will probably serve the minimal sentence as most DUI-with-death offenders obtain parole, the 8 Information Now Investigators have discovered.
“How do you explain to a 9-year-old that the person they look up to and admire so much in life is only worth two years?” Padgett stated in Might.
