Probation possible for mom who struck 2 teens with SUV
Probation may be in store for a woman accused of intentionally driving her SUV into two teen girls in March near a Henderson high school.
Fatima Mitchell, 36, was in court Monday for what what was initially scheduled to be a sentencing hearing.
Though she had originally been charged with attempted murder, Mitchell agreed to plead guilty to a lesser charge of reckless driving. As part of the plea negotiations, prosecutors agreed not to oppose probation if Mitchell gets accepted into a treatment program through the mental health court.
Defense attorney Roger Bailey said on Monday that a determination had not been made on whether Mitchell would be accepted into the program. Bailey said the mental health court was gathering all the records necessary to make a decision in Mitchell’s case.
The mental health court’s decision on whether Mitchell qualifies for a treatment program could affect whether she gets probation in the case, her attorney told the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
“That’s a condition of probation. If she doesn’t get in there, then she’s probably not going to get probation,” Bailey said.
The reckless driving charge is a felony that carries a penalty of between one and six years in prison.
District Judge Tierra Jones indicated that she wanted to hear what the mental health court had to say about Mitchell before deciding on a sentence. To give court personnel time to make a recommendation, Jones rescheduled the sentencing hearing for Aug. 15.
Mitchell was arrested in late March after crashing her Chevy Tahoe into a tree, a sign and two teen girls near Basic High School in Henderson. The teens were taken to the hospital with multiple bone fractures.
The arrest report indicates that Mitchell deliberately targeted the girls because she believed they had started fights with her daughter.
“Obviously they must want to die,” Mitchell told school police at the time of her arrest, according to the report.
Mitchell has remained in the Clark County Detention Center since her arrest, held on a $250,000 bond.
Contact Glen A. Meek at gmeek@reviewjournal.com or 602-380-8951. Follow @GlenMeekLV on Twitter.