Kudos to the Nevada Senate for unanimously passing Senate Bill 322, otherwise known as Rex’s Law, to increase penalties for reckless driving and create meaningful accountability for reckless drivers. Now that the house of origin deadline has passed, we expect the state Assembly to follow suit and send the bill to Gov. Joe Lombardo’s desk as quickly as possible.
The bill was inspired by the tragic death of Rex Patchett, an active eighth-grader with a love for the outdoors. He was struck and killed by a car traveling 90 mph down a residential street last year. Patchett was simply walking home from his friend’s house when the driver of the car, 21-year-old Jose Marmolejo, lost control while trying to get airtime from a commonly known jump called “Mannion’s hump.” He was a joyrider knowingly and consciously putting others at risk so he could chase a thrill.
Marmolejo was not drunk or otherwise impaired at the time of the collision. That’s important because under current Nevada law, the maximum penalty for felony DUI resulting in death is 20 years in prison, while the maximum penalty for sober drivers who kill someone while making a conscious choice to drive recklessly is only six years. Marmolejo received the maximum sentence of six years with the possibility of parole after two years.
But Rex’s father, Jason, believes that taking his son’s life should have come with stiffer penalties. He has become a tireless advocate for changes to Nevada’s law that might have made...
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