The Nevada Highway Patrol arrested 36-year-old Natalie Muriel Rodriguez on Oct. 4 after a rollover crash on Interstate 15 near mile marker 21 killed a 7-year-old girl who was not wearing a seat belt. Rodriguez, the only adult in the Chevrolet Tahoe, was driving north with two of her children when the vehicle collided with a concrete wall and flipped. She was booked into the Clark County Detention Center the same day on felony charges including DUI resulting in death, reckless driving resulting in death, and two counts of child abuse or neglect.
Despite the arrest, the agency did not disclose it in two news releases issued on Oct. 4 and Oct. 6. When asked days later whether anyone had been arrested, Trooper Shawn Haggstrom repeatedly said he had not spoken to investigators because they had not been in the office. "If I had the information, I'd give it to you," Haggstrom said during an Oct. 7 phone call.
The Review-Journal obtained the arrest report from Goodsprings Justice Court, where Justice of the Peace Larry Shupe found probable cause on Oct. 5 and ordered Rodriguez held without bail. The Highway Patrol denied the newspaper's records request, stating in a letter that disclosure would undermine the defendant's right to a fair trial and citing a department practice of withholding arrest reports until a case is adjudicated.
Review-Journal Chief Legal Officer Ben Lipman said he knows of no Nevada case where pretrial publicity was found to undermine a fair trial right. Executive Editor Glenn Cook called the agency's legal justifications "literally made up" and said the decision was calculated and against the law. "They're not the first law enforcement agency to think they're above the requirements of the Nevada Public Records Act, and they won't be the last," Cook said.
Sources: Las Vegas Review-Journal
Original reporting: Las Vegas Review-Journal →
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