California juvenile detention escapee Jean Ervin Soriano was charged with seven felony charges for driving under the influence causing death or substantial injury in the early March 30 wreck on Interstate 15 about 80 miles northeast of Las Vegas, the Associated Press reported. Soriano had a blood-alcohol percentage of .12, above the Nevada legal limit of .08 percent, leading to a freeway crash that killed five family members and injuring two others, prosecutors said.
Soriano faces two misdemeanor charges of failure to decrease speed and driving without a license.
Moapa Justice of the Peace Ruth Kolhoss scheduled for a May 15 evidence hearing. His attorney Frank Cofer said his client plans to plead not guilty.
"He's a young kid, very scared, distraught," Cofer said following the brief court appearance with Soriano who is being held in St. George Utah on $3.5 million bail in isolated protective custody at the Clark County Jail.
Cofer said Soriano has been praying for family members that were killed and injured. He also asked the judge on Wednesday to order the preservation as evidence of the SUV involved in the crash so that defense investigators can collect blood and tissue samples to determine if Soriano was in fact the driver, even as troopers already said Soriano later admitted that he was driving, and investigators found several beer bottles in his vehicle.
After Soriano's arrest, authorities in Orange County, California said that he fled March 1 from a juvenile guidance center in Santa Ana where they treat drug and alcohol abusers, reports said.
Cofer also has plans to order independent blood-alcohol test on Samples to be drawn from Soriano.
The van overturned in the desert, killing five of the Fernandez family, Genaro Fernandez, Raudel Fernandez-Avila, Belen Fernandez, 53, Angela Sandoval aged 13, and Leonardo Fernandez-Avila. The driver of the van, Maria Rosario Cardanas and a 15-year-old passenger, Eddie Sandoval, were the only survivors.
