Share and Follow
Left inset: Jose Gutierrez in court (KTNV/YouTube). Right inset: Adilene Rincon (GoFundMe). Background: The scene of the crash that Jose Gutierrez is accused of intentionally causing, which left his pregnant girlfriend Adilene Rincon dead (Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department).
A Las Vegas judge has ruled that a teenager from Nevada must face murder charges after he allegedly caused a catastrophic 12-car collision. This tragic incident resulted in the deaths of his pregnant girlfriend and two other individuals. The teenager, Jose Gutierrez, is accused of intentionally crashing his Infiniti into vehicles stopped at a red light.
At just 19 years old, Gutierrez was reportedly driving at 100 mph in a zone limited to 45 mph. On Wednesday, his request to have the charges dismissed was denied. He now faces several serious charges including murder with a deadly weapon, reckless driving resulting in death, attempted murder with a deadly weapon, and battery. The victims of this tragic event were identified as Adilene Rincon, aged 20, Edward Garcia, aged 38, and Vanessa Vasquez, aged 25.
Clark County Chief Deputy District Attorney Nicholas Portz emphasized to the judge that the evidence of Gutierrez’s intent could be inferred from the circumstances. As reported by the Las Vegas Review-Journal, Portz noted that Gutierrez drove straight into a group of cars waiting at a red light, a deliberate act requiring more willfulness and intent than simply pulling a trigger, which is a common example of first-degree murder.
According to a report by local ABC affiliate KTNV, the prosecutor argued that Gutierrez’s actions could only reasonably be interpreted as intentionally driving into the vehicles. This assertion is supported by court documents that state Gutierrez accelerated at full throttle for nearly a mile, reaching speeds over 100 mph, and collided with the stopped cars without attempting to brake or swerve.
Gutierrez is presently detained without bail, facing multiple felony charges including murder with a deadly weapon, reckless driving resulting in death, attempted murder with a deadly weapon, and battery, as per the Review-Journal.
“His conduct, through the testimony of witnesses who said he drove directly into those people — one of the witnesses compared it to his time in the Middle East, where he said it”s the same as watching a terrorist drive a bomb into a military target,” Portz explained at Wednesday’s hearing, per KTNV footage from inside the courtroom.
“He said, ‘I’ve seen accidents before, you see them swerving or attempting to avoid the accident, none of that happened with this guy,’” Portz recounted. “He drove straight, head on, into these people at full speed.”
Prosecutors said that after his arrest, Gutierrez was “not impaired by alcohol or drugs” when he caused the crash, according to local NBC affiliate KSNV. He was allegedly driving a silver 2011 Infiniti G37 with Rincon, 20, his pregnant girlfriend riding with him as a passenger. The other victims, Garcia and Vasquez, were drivers at the red light; Garcia died at the scene and Vasquez succumbed to her injuries several weeks later after being hospitalized.
“The only thing I’ve seen close to that — I was in two wars, I’m from the Middle East originally, I’m from Israel, I’ve seen a lot of terror suicide bombers — that was the closest thing,” alleged witness Assaf Cohen at a December hearing, according to KTNV. “The way he drove into the cars is the way a terrorist drives into a military base.”
Gutierrez’s defense attorney, Thomas Moskal, argued in court filings and at Wednesday’s hearing that the murder charges should be dismissed due to a lack of evidence showing the teen’s intent.
“At the preliminary hearing on this matter, the state was unable to provide any evidence that would support a reasonable inference that [Gutierrez] acted with willfulness, deliberation or premeditation in the instant vehicle collision,” Moskal wrote in one filing, according to the Review-Journal.
“The assumption that [Gutierrez’s] driving conduct alone illustrates these actions is unreasonable, weak and speculative,” Moskal insisted. “Similarly, the state did not provide any evidence of express or implied malice or a conscious disregard for human lives on the part of the [Gutierrez].”
In court on Wednesday, Moskal argued that it “would have been different if they uncovered some kind of motive or some evidence of intent, but the single inference they’re relying on is, ‘Judge, allow this to proceed to jury trial on first-degree murder because he was driving fast, he didn’t brake, and he crashed into some cars.’”
District Judge Michelle Leavitt disagreed and reportedly denied the request to dismiss Gutierrez’s murder charges immediately after the arguments were made.
Court records obtained by KTNV show that Gutierrez was cited for speeding in October after police caught him going 52 mph in a 35 mph zone. He was also arrested in April for intimidating a police officer who responded to a report of a woman claiming she was hit by Gutierrez.
“What’s up foo,” Gutierrez allegedly told the cop.
“I’ll f—ing shoot you,” he said, according to court documents. “I’ll kill you.”
Gutierrez is due back in court on March 4.