Woman Who Hit Las Vegas Crowd with Her Car, Killing One, Pleads Guilty

Lakeisha Holloway, 34, who in 2015 was accused of driving her car into pedestrians in Las Vegas, killing one and injuring 37 others, pleaded guilty on Friday and is now awaiting her sentence.

Driver Pleads Guilty to Charges of Driving into Crowd in Las Vegas

Holloway pleaded guilty to one count of second-degree murder and one count of battery with a deadly weapon. She was charged with deliberately driving into crowds along the Strip in 2015, resulting in the death of an Arizona mother of three and injuries to dozens more. Her 3-year-old daughter was in the car during the incident.

The reason it took almost a decade for Holloway to come up with a guilty plea is due to the legal requirement that a defendant must be mentally competent to stand trial. Multiple mental health evaluations found Holloway unfit to stand trial, leading to prolonged stays in state-run psychiatric facilities and indefinite delays in court proceedings. While these safeguards are intended to uphold due process, they also played a role in delaying justice for the victims and their families for nearly a decade.

Unfortunately, other instances of drivers causing accidents with many injuries and even deaths on Las Vegas streets have happened since then as well. For example, a few months ago, a man was sentenced to at least four years in prison after he hit another car on a Las Vegas boulevard last year, killing one person and injuring another. Court findings said the man was driving at a speed of more than 140 miles per hour.

What Happened On that Fateful Date in Las Vegas?

The incident happened on December 20, 2015, when Holloway, who was 24 at the time, drove her car onto a busy sidewalk along the Las Vegas Strip, hitting 38 pedestrians for several blocks. She drove a 1996 Oldsmobile sedan with Oregon license plates onto the sidewalk at various locations, striking multiple pedestrians before speeding down the road. The one victim who died was Jessica Valenzuela, a 32-year-old mother visiting from Arizona.

According to the arrest report, Holloway fled the scene, driving about one mile before entering the grounds of a hotel. She then approached a security officer and asked them to call the police, admitting that she had just struck several people.

Holloway, who police reported had cannabis in her system at the time of the incident, was initially charged with 71 offenses to which she initially pleaded not guilty. These included murder with the use of a deadly weapon, numerous counts of attempted murder and battery with a deadly weapon causing substantial bodily harm, and child abuse, as her daughter was in the car with her.

Holloway’s sentencing is scheduled for September 25.