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December 24, 2015

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Murder charge for Vegas car slammer

A WOMAN accused of intentionally plowing a car carrying her young daughter through crowds of pedestrians on the Las Vegas Strip has been charged with murder, child abuse and hit-and-run.

District Attorney Steve Wolfson said he expects to file additional charges against Lakeisha Nicole Holloway, 24, in coming days.

鈥淭his is an ongoing investigation with many items of video, physical evidence and many, many witnesses to be interviewed,鈥 Wolfson said. 鈥淚鈥檝e personally seen the videos from a variety of angles, and I鈥檓 appalled at the callousness of this defendant鈥檚 conduct and what appears to be an intentional act.鈥

The casino surveillance video has not been made public, and Wolfson said prosecutors don鈥檛 plan to present it in court yesterday, when Holloway is scheduled to make her first appearance.

One of Holloway鈥檚 public defense attorneys, Joseph Abood, said she plans to plead not guilty.

Authorities say Holloway repeatedly swerved on Sunday onto the sidewalk packed with tourists in front of the Paris Las Vegas and Planet Hollywood casino-hotels.

Critical condition

The crash killed Jessica Valenzuela, 32, of Arizona, and injured at least 35 people from California, Colorado, Florida, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Washington state, Mexico and Quebec, Canada. Three were still in critical condition on Tuesday and five others remained hospitalized.

鈥淲e can all agree this is a shocking and tragic event,鈥 Abood said. 鈥淲e have great sympathy for the family of Jessica Valenzuela and all the other people who were injured.鈥

Holloway is on suicide watch in jail, where she is being held without bail. Abood said he and another public defender, Scott Coffee, were still collecting information and didn鈥檛 know whether Holloway鈥檚 mental health will emerge as a defense.

Holloway was charged with the felony child abuse and neglect because police say her 3-year-old daughter was with her in the vehicle. The child wasn鈥檛 hurt and is now in custody of child protective services.

Authorities have said a motive for the crash was unclear.


 

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