Woman sentenced to prison for DUI crash that killed stepfather and teenage boy | Courts

Amber Reedy slowly rose from her wheelchair, her hands shaking as she held a microphone to address the woman who killed her husband and 14-year-old son in a DUI crash.

“You have no idea how angry I am,” Reedy said, her voice shaking as she gingerly stood up and addressed the courtroom during Cynthia Phelps’ sentencing hearing.

Reedy was seriously injured in the April 17 crash that killed her son, Erik McPherson, and his stepfather, 42-year-old Robert Higgins. The family was standing on the sidewalk at a bus stop on Boulder Highway when Phelps, 64, crashed into them.

Phelps told police she thought she had had a seizure and had no memory of the crash. She was also charged with driving under the influence and speeding approximately 30 km/h over the speed limit of 45 km/h. Police said she was driving the wrong way and did not attempt to brake before crashing into the sidewalk.

“If you are prone to seizures, why drink twice the legal limit and get behind the wheel?” District Judge Ronald Israel said this on Monday. “It just doesn’t make sense.”

Israel sentenced Phelps to between 15 and 60 years in prison for two counts of drunken driving causing death and one count of drunken driving causing substantial bodily harm. He also ordered her to pay more than $7,600 in restitution.

Phelps remained silent during the sentencing hearing. Her public defender, Michael Yohay, read a statement to the judge that Phelps had written.

“I have deep sympathy and remorse for all involved,” Yohay read from Phelps’ statement. “I also suffered from this incident, but not nearly as bad as the victims. It was a wrong assessment on my part.”

Yohay argued that Phelps has no criminal history and that her life “started going downhill” after her husband died. He said Phelps has a seizure disorder, but she did have alcohol in her system at the time of the crash.

He said Phelps is aware that she could realistically spend the rest of her life in prison.

“That’s a conversation we had and she was accepted, based on her actions,” Yohay said.

He argued that the judge should order Phelps to serve her sentence on the three separate charges concurrently, but the judge said each individual count should be served separately to reflect the person who was killed or injured in the crash.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Yu Meng said drunk driving cases should be “preventable” because of taxis and ride-sharing.

“It seems like I make this argument almost every day, but it doesn’t seem to reach the public,” he said.

Amber Reedy suffered a broken pelvis and several skull fractures in the crash, her family previously told the Las Vegas Review-Journal. She told the judge Monday that she missed her son and husband’s funerals because she was in a coma after the crash.

Meng argued that Reedy is now “unrecognizable” from the person she was before the crash.

Reedy’s other children, 12-year-old Isabella McPherson and 9-year-old Roman Ferris, stood with their grandfather Monday to address the court. Isabella McPherson said she could not properly explain her heartbreak over the death of her 14-year-old brother.

“You broke our family so much,” she said.

Both Isabella McPherson and Roman Ferris were also injured in the crash, both suffering broken bones.

Reedy’s father, Frank Walklin, said he hoped Phelps would remain in prison until her death. His voice trembled with emotion as he told the judge he could never teach his grandson to drive.

“She took my grandson from me,” he said.

Contact Katelyn Newberg at [email protected] or 702-383-0240.