Driver in fatal crash ordered to court
A driver involved in a fatal crash on Boulder City Parkway in March is rejecting an offer to plead guilty to lesser charges in district court.
On Nov. 7, Joshua Buckingham, 27, was scheduled for a status check in Nevada’s Eighth District Court, where he is facing felony charges of second-degree murder and reckless driving after the sedan he was driving struck a pickup March 7, killing its driver, Randy Reiner, 58, of Las Vegas.
According to the court minutes, Buckingham was not present at the hearing. His attorney, Adam Solinger, said he would not be accepting the state’s offer to plead guilty to charges of reckless driving resulting in death and battery with substantial bodily harm.
The state did agree to keep that offer open until Buckingham’s next hearing, set for 9:30 a.m. Dec. 5. The court ordered that he must be present.
Both of the lesser charges are felonies. A reckless driving conviction carries a potential sentence of one to six years in a Nevada state prison and $2,000 to $5,000 in fines. A conviction on the battery charge carries a potential sentence of 1 to 15 years and a fine of up to $10,000.
If convicted of second-degree murder, Buckingham faces life imprisonment with the possibility of parole or a 25-year sentence with the possibility of parole. Parole eligibility for either sentence would start after he served 10 years.
According to the indictment, Buckingham was traveling 90 miles an hour more than the speed limit in a residential area between 7 a.m. and 7:30 a.m. on a school day.
According to other media reports, Buckingham said he was driving 130 mph and admitted to taking prescription drugs before leaving a casino and heading south.
Contact reporter Celia Shortt Goodyear at cgoodyear@bouldercityreview.com or at 702-586-9401. Follow her on Twitter @csgoodyear.
