Parents charged with murder in crash that killed 1-year-old boy

The Las Vegas parents accused of street racing in a crash that killed their 1-year-old son have been charged with second-degree murder, prosecutors announced Monday.

“The recklessness and wanton disregard both parents exhibited in this incident is unacceptable,” District Attorney Steve Wolfson said in a statement. “They caused the avoidable death of an innocent one-year-old boy and endangered the lives of many others who were on the roads that day.”

Cameron Hubbard-Jones, 23, and Lauren Prescia, 23, both of Las Vegas, were in court Monday morning, when Las Vegas Justice of the Peace Suzan Baucum set bail at $100,000 for each of them. They face charges in the July 12 crash at Rampart and Lake Mead drives that took the life of their son, Royce Jones.

Authorities said Prescia was driving while intoxicated at an approximate speed of 121 mph when her vehicle, in which her son was a passenger, slammed into a pole at the intersection. She was apprehended at the scene.

On Monday, Deputy District Attorney Frank LoGrippo said her blood alcohol content after the crash was 0.18 percent, more than twice the legal limit for drivers in Nevada.

‘A speed contest’

Hubbard-Jones was arrested Wednesday after a police investigation determined that the two were street racing at the time of the crash. LoGrippo said Hubbard-Jones was driving about 115 mph at the time of the crash.

“Both cars were engaged in a speed contest,” LoGrippo said. “A street race. They were racing. They were speeding together.”

The prosecutor said Las Vegas police obtained video evidence from cameras at street intersections, along with witness statements. Each parent faces charges of second-degree murder with a deadly weapon; reckless driving; and child abuse, neglect or endangerment resulting in substantial bodily harm.

If released on bail, the two are to have no contact with each other, Baucum said. They also will be prevented from driving and will be placed on electronic monitoring.

Hubbard-Jones’ defense attorney, Damian Sheets, said the facts will show that his client’s vehicle was far behind Prescia’s at the time of the crash. He described Prescia’s behavior as “careless and reckless.”

“The child is not in the care, custody or control of my client,” Sheets said. “The state is proposing a theory that basically makes my client responsible for the actions of somebody else who was in direct care and control of the child and in direct care and control of the vehicle.”

Sheets said that in the moments after the crash, Hubbard-Jones drove up to the devastating scene and immediately tried to render aid to his child.

Prescia’s attorney, Daniel Hill, said his client is a lifelong Las Vegas resident with no criminal history. She’s worked at a dermatology business for the last two years.

“The charges remain presumptively false at this time,” Hill said.

Domestic battery conviction

Court records show that Hubbard-Jones is on probation for a domestic violence attack against Prescia on Dec. 10, 2018.

A police report obtained by the Las Vegas Review-Journal said police were called to the couple’s residence for a report of a domestic dispute and officers immediately encountered Hubbard-Jones, who told officers that “he had messed up and explained he’d battered his girlfriend … multiple times.”

Prescia initially refused to cooperate with police, but officers interviewed a witness who reported seeing Hubbard-Jones attacking Prescia with closed fists in an argument over Hubbard-Jones spending money at a strip club.

The next day police went to MountainView Hospital after learning that Prescia was treated for injuries there. A doctor told officers that Prescia “had suffered a temporal fracture on the left side of her skull, a nasal fracture and various bruising across all around her face and body.”

Hubbard-Jones was convicted in 2019 of battery with substantial bodily harm and battery constituting domestic violence for the attack on Prescia. He received a suspended sentence of 12 to 34 months in prison and was on probation in that case at the time of the crash that killed his son.

Deadly weapon enhancement

The murder charges filed Monday include what is known as a deadly weapon enhancement. In this case, the weapon references the vehicles that Prescia and Hubbard-Jones were driving.

A conviction of second-degree murder in Nevada carries with it potential sentences of either 10 to 25 years or 10 years to life in prison. However, a conviction involving the use of a deadly weapon could add years of prison time.

Meanwhile, the practice by the Clark County district attorney’s office of charging vehicular crimes suspects with murder in certain cases is controversial.

The Nevada Supreme Court recently heard arguments on the practice in the case of Ronald Leavell, who is appealing a second-degree murder charge in a 2017 crash. As of November, Clark County prosecutors had filed murder charges against at least seven motorists accused of causing deadly crashes.

Wolfson said the district attorney’s office is trying to send a message to the public that driving under the influence will not be tolerated.

“I do not know what else we can do to stop people from making the potentially deadly choice to drive while under the influence of drugs or alcohol,” Wolfson said in his statement. “I am at a loss as to why a person would have such disregard for their own child’s safety.”

Contact Glenn Puit by email at gpuit@reviewjournal.com. Follow @GlennatRJ on Twitter.