Las Vegas mother sentenced in DUI crash that killed infant son
A Las Vegas mother was sentenced Thursday to six to 20 years in prison for a high-speed, drunken, cocaine-fueled crash that left her infant son dead.
Lauren Prescia texted with Cameron Hubbard-Jones, the child’s father, about drinking alcohol in the hours leading up to the child’s July 12 death at Rampart and Lake Mead boulevards, according to court records.
Prescia, 23, pleaded guilty in September to DUI resulting in death and child abuse, neglect or endangerment.
“I would like to apologize to the court and to my son and to the people of the community,” Prescia told District Judge Douglas Herndon. “This has changed my life forever. I just hope that the court will show mercy on me and that I can show everybody who I really am.”
The judge handed down a sentence that had been negotiated between prosecutors and Prescia’s attorney.
“It’s more about you and your family and what happened,” Herndon said, urging Prescia to try to help others while in prison. “When things like this happen, and we’re responsible somehow for the death of people we love, all we can really do is try and honor the memory of that individual by being a better person than before.”
Hubbard-Jones, also 23, has also pleaded guilty to felony reckless driving, which carries a possible sentence of one to six years behind bars.
Hubbard-Jones has since been imprisoned for violating parole in his battery conviction in a 2018 assault. He was not transferred to court Thursday, and he is scheduled to be sentenced on the reckless driving charge next month.
Both initially faced second-degree murder charges, but the Nevada Supreme Court this year prohibited prosecutors from charging murder in DUI cases.
Las Vegas police said Prescia was driving 121 mph in an area with a 45 mph speed limit when she lost control of her car, causing the wreck that took the life of the couple’s son, Royce Jones.
After the crash, Prescia told police she had consumed two White Claws. Her blood alcohol content, however, was measured at 0.176 percent, more than twice the legal limit for drivers, according to court records. Prosecutors also said Prescia had cocaine in her system at the time of her arrest.
Police arrested Hubbard-Jones days later, contending that he was street racing with Prescia in the moments leading up to the child’s death.
Hubbard-Jones was convicted of battery with substantial bodily harm and battery constituting domestic violence in a 2018 assault.
Police said Hubbard-Jones beat Prescia during an argument over Hubbard-Jones spending money at a strip club. A doctor told officers that Prescia “suffered a temporal fracture on the left side of her skull, a nasal fracture and various bruising across all around her face and body.”
Contact David Ferrara at dferrara@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-1039. Follow @randompoker on Twitter.