Las Vegas driver guilty of 2nd fatal DUI crash heads back to prison: ‘He learned absolutely nothing’
LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — A man who served prison time for driving high and killing a motorcycle rider – who then killed another driver 10 years later – will serve a minimum of 10 years in prison with a maximum life term.
In court Monday, Clark County District Court Judge Monica Trujillo sentenced Prentiss Bates, 51, to a life term with the possibility of parole after 10 years on a vehicular homicide charge.
In 2012, Bates was impaired when he crashed into Jim Burchette, 58, killing him. A judge sentenced Bates to 8-20 years in prison. In August 2020, Bates, nearing the 8-year minimum of his up-to-20-year sentence, appeared before the Nevada Parole Board, which granted him his release. In 2022, Bates drove high again, crashing into and killing Demarr Sims, 40, who was sitting in a parked car.
“This man will do his time and get out and get to see his family,” Tamika Sims, Demarr Sims’ wife, told Trujillo during Monday’s sentencing. “We won’t get to see my husband no more.”
On Sept. 22, 2022, Bates was driving at nearly 100 mph on the wrong side of the road and was high on drugs when he slammed into the front of Sims’ car, police said. The crash happened in a construction zone around 2 a.m. near Rancho Drive and Craig Road in the northwest valley.
Sims, a construction zone flagger, was sitting in a car awaiting the end of his shift, police said.
“My brother was at work, and he never returned home to his family,” Crystal Sims, Demarr Sims’ sister, said Monday.
The first case
Bates pleaded guilty to a charge of driving under the influence of a controlled substance resulting in death in 2013. He was driving another person’s rental car in November 2012 when he crashed into Jim Burchette near Nellis Boulevard and Cheyenne Avenue.
Prosecutors said Bates was high on PCP, a hallucinogen, records showed. Bates told the responding officer he had recently smoked marijuana. The officer at the time noted Bates did not have a valid Nevada driver’s license and had a suspended California license. Bates also told the officer he had a prior DUI in California.
The crash involving Burchette would mark Prentiss Bates’ third DUI on record. He was convicted of his first in California in 2009 and his second in Las Vegas in 2011, documents showed.
“I made a bad, terrible decision for choosing to operate a motor vehicle while under the influence,” Bates told the board in his August 2020 hearing. “The only way to overcome my past is succeeding in my future by being a law-abiding citizen.”
During the hearing, a parole board member noted Bates did not attend any substance misuse treatment while in custody.
The second sentencing
“He learned absolutely nothing from that case. Absolutely nothing,” prosecutor Yu Meng said during the hearing.
Speaking to Trujillo, Bates reiterated that statement.
“I need help too,” he said. “Even though I got time, they never ever offered me no time help. They just sent me down and kicked me back out.”
“Your behavior consistently poses a threat to members of our community and obviously caused a death again in this community,” Trujillo said.
“To me, this wasn’t a mistake because this man was on these drugs, got in his car, and knew what he was doing,” Tamika Sims said.
Trujillo also sentenced Bates to a minimum of three years in prison for the DUI he picked up in June 2022. Bates will serve that sentence concurrently with the other.
The license
In June 2022, prosecutors charged Bates with driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol – his fourth DUI arrest. Las Vegas Metro police officers said they found Bates sleeping behind the wheel of a car near Las Vegas Boulevard and Flamingo Road.
The arresting officers did not take Bates’ license away because they administered a blood test and needed its results to formally file a criminal complaint against him.
Records show Bates failed to appear at an August 2022 hearing and a warrant was issued for his arrest. Bates remained out on bond pending a hearing in November — until his next arrest.
Even though Bates was arrested months earlier on his fourth DUI charge and had served prison time for driving high and killing a person, he had a valid Nevada driver’s license and was driving a car he rented.
While Bates was out on bail following his June 30, 2022, DUI arrest, prosecutors awaited his blood results to move forward. Lab results would eventually reveal PCP in his system.
Las Vegas Metro police formally submitted a letter asking the DMV to revoke Bates’ license on July 23, 2022. The DMV did not receive that request until Aug. 22. The DMV processed Bates’ revocation notice on Sept. 28, six days after police arrested him on his second fatal DUI charge for killing Demarr Sims.
The one-page forms are mailed to the DMV and entered manually. Officials with the DMV previously told the 8 News Now Investigators that there was a 60-day backlog at the time.
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