No charges filed yet against DUI suspect in NLV crash that killed girl
At a Wednesday hearing, a judge said he was surprised prosecutors hadn’t yet filed charges against a woman accused of a North Las Vegas DUI crash that killed a 9-year-old girl.
Christina Sorensen, 63, was arrested after the two-vehicle crash, which occurred at 4 p.m. Saturday at the intersection of Simmons Street and West Ann Road. The Clark County coroner’s office identified the victim as Sophia Sandoval of Porterville, California, and said she died of multiple blunt force injuries.
Sandoval was a passenger in Sorensen’s car, and Ryan Helmick, who represents Sorensen, said the girl was Sorensen’s niece. Police said a Jeep crashed into the Corvette Sorensen was driving when she tried to turn left against a red light.
Sorensen faces charges of driving under the influence resulting in death, reckless driving resulting in death and child abuse or neglect, according to court records.
But North Las Vegas Chief Justice of the Peace Kalani Hoo said prosecutors had not filed a criminal complaint against Sorensen. Until that happens, a defendant has not been formally charged.
“I’m a little surprised that the complaint hasn’t been filed,” Hoo said, adding that in other cases, charges are filed within days of the incident.
Deputy District Attorney Danielle Maatouk asked the judge to give her 120 days for further investigation, then for 60 days, then for 30 days.
“This is a very serious case,” she said.
Hoo agreed the charges were serious but said he wouldn’t give Maatouk the amount of time she wanted. “I could give you one day,” he said, pointing out that it had been four days since Sorensen was arrested.
“To go from 120 to 60 to 30 and still not even really know if the complaint will be filed by that date, that’s concerning,” he added.
The district attorney’s office did not immediately respond to requests for comment after the hearing.
At a hearing Monday, Justice of the Peace Natalie Tyrrell set bail at $100,000 with high electronic monitoring, a drug patch requirement and an order for Sorensen not to drive, according to court records. Helmick said after the hearing that high electronic monitoring is equivalent to house arrest.
Helmick said Sorensen has posted bail and is awaiting release from jail. He argued in court that there was no legal basis to have her under house arrest or any other bail conditions when she hadn’t been charged with anything.
Hoo said he would allow the bail conditions if the complaint gets filed by Thursday, when there will be another hearing.
Sorensen blew a .000 on a breath test, according to police, but failed several field sobriety tests. Her arrest report said officers had “probable cause to suspect Sorensen was driving under the influence of narcotics.”
Sorensen consented to a blood draw, but Helmick said blood test results have not come back yet.
Police said Sorensen had no prior criminal record.
The arrest report said Sorensen seemed “emotionless” after the crash, but at court, she appeared to be crying before the hearing started.
Contact Noble Brigham at nbrigham@reviewjournal.com. Follow @BrighamNoble on X.