FILED

Electronically
CR20-1030
2020-10-09 01:32:45 PM
Jacqueline Bryant
Clerk of the Court
Transaction # 8108797 : sacordag

1 CODE: 2630

2 Christopher J. Hicks
#7747
3 One South Sierra Street
Reno, NV 89501
4 (775) 328-3200
5

6 IN THE SECOND JUDICIAL DISTRICT COURT OF THE STATE OF NEVADA,

7 IN AND FOR THE COUNTY OF WASHOE

8 * * *

9 THE STATE OF NEVADA,

10 Plaintiff,
Case No.: CR20-1030
11 v.
Dept. No.: D08
12 JULIE SFERRAZZA,
13 Defendant.
14 ____________________________________/

15 STATE’S OBJECTION TO DEFENDANT’S REQUEST FOR SENTENCE DIVERSION

16
Comes now The State of Nevada, by and through CHRISTOPHER
17
J. HICKS, Washoe County District Attorney, Shannon M. Bryant, Deputy
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District Attorney, and Christopher Day, Deputy District Attorney, and
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hereby submits its Objection to the Defendant’s Request for Sentence
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Diversion.
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The Objections are supported by the following Points and
22
Authorities.
23
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 1 POINTS AND AUTHORITIES

2 I. RELEVANT FACTS

3 On March 31, 2020, Defendant, JULIE SFERRAZZA

4 (“Defendant”), drove and crashed her vehicle in the presence of two

5 Reno Police Department officers. According to police reports and

6 evidence submitted in this case as well as the Defendant’s own

7 written statement to the Division of Parole and Probation, the

8 Defendant saw the officers and then drove her vehicle at

9 approximately 25 mph off the embankment of the Grace Church upper

10 parking lot near Robb Drive in Reno, Nevada. The Defendant’s vehicle

11 fortunately missed a pedestrian, who was walking on the stairway

12 approximately 15 feet away, crashed down the embankment and landed

13 atop some large boulders. Police found an open bottle of Malibu rum

14 in her possession, and toxicology later confirmed her BAC was .0403,

15 more than five times the statutory per se level required to

16 conclusively prove impairment. It was 2:25 p.m.

17 The investigating officers soon discovered that the

18 Defendant had two prior DUI convictions in the past seven years, and

19 further discovered that the Defendant had a restriction on her Nevada

20 driver’s license that required her to have an ignition interlock

21 device (“IID”) in her vehicle. No IID was installed in her vehicle.1

22 A review of the previously filed certified copies of court

23 documents pertaining to the Defendant’s 2014 misdemeanor DUI offense

24 shows the Defendant was stopped by Reno Police Department officers on

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1 The misdemeanor charge for the failure to have the required IID installed is being
26 dismissed pursuant to negotiations; however, the facts are relevant to the analysis
of whether the Defendant is an appropriate candidate for diversion.

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 1 September 17, 2014, for failing to maintain a lane. See RMC 14CR-

2 16882. The Defendant pleaded no contest on January 15, 2015. At

3 that time, the Defendant elected a 484 Program. The Defendant was

4 ordered to complete a “Level 2X” substance abuse treatment program,

5 which is a 26-week treatment program.

6 Less than two weeks later, on January 28, 2015, the

7 Defendant was arrested again for showing up at the court-ordered DUI

8 offender victim impact panel with a BAC of .180. The Defendant

9 served three days in jail, and then the court ordered an electronic

10 monitoring device to be installed on the Defendant’s person at her

11 expense. As a part of her modified sentence terms after her

12 violation, the Defendant also was required to submit to random

13 preliminary breath testing.

14 Less than two years later, on September 28, 2016, the

15 Defendant drove under the influence of alcohol again, but this time

16 she crashed her vehicle. See RMC 16CR-14044. She was arrested and

17 charged with a DUI second offense misdemeanor. The Reno Municipal

18 Court set the Defendant’s bail at $10,000 cash only, which was posted

19 on October 10, 2016. On November 8, 2016, the court noted that the

20 Defendant’s BAC was .140 and further noted she could be subject to

21 imposition of her suspended sentence from the 2014 offense. The

22 Defendant again elected a 484 Program for treatment.

23 On December 7, 2016, the Defendant pleaded no contest to

24 the second offense DUI. She was placed under the supervision of the

25 Alternative Sentencing Unit (“ASU”) and ordered to comply with a no

26 alcohol or drugs condition and attend a “Level 3” treatment program,

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 1 which is a 52-week program. She was further ordered to attend

2 Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (“DBT”) at Great Basin Behavioral

3 Health at least once per week individually and in a group setting.

4 The court further ordered the Defendant to attend a self-help group

5 (e.g., Alcoholics Anonymous) five times per week and to have an IID

6 installed in her vehicle for 24 months.

7 On February 9, 2017, just two months after her conviction

8 and being supervised in a treatment program, the Defendant was

9 arrested again for non-compliance. The next day, the Defendant was

10 released on her own recognizance and again required to wear an

11 alcohol monitoring device (referred to as a “SCRAM” in court

12 documents) and required to remain on house arrest as a condition of

13 her release.

14 Three days later, on February 13, 2017, the Defendant was

15 arrested again for non-compliance. This time the court kept the

16 Defendant in custody on a no bail hold pending further proceedings.

17 This time the Defendant was referred to the Inmate Assistance Program

18 (“IAP”) pending placement in an in-patient facility.

19 Shortly after her subsequent treatment and release, the

20 Defendant was arrested yet again on May 24, 2017, for non-compliance.

21 Again, the court held the Defendant without bail pending further

22 proceedings. On May 31, 2017, the court again released the Defendant

23 on her own recognizance, subject to the conditions previously placed

24 on her under the terms of her sentence and placed back under

25 supervision by the ASU.

26 ///

4
 1 On October 23, 2017, the Defendant was arrested a fourth

2 time for non-compliance. The following day, the court ordered the

3 Defendant to serve 30 days in jail for violating the conditions of

4 her release.

5 On April 25, 2018, the Defendant was arrested a fifth time

6 for non-compliance. She was placed on a no-bail hold at that time.

7 On May 3, 2018, the Defendant was discharged from the DUI specialty

8 court and the treatment program after having failed to successfully

9 complete it.

10 The Defendant now asks this Court for yet another treatment

11 program to avoid incarceration stating she is the “perfect candidate”

12 for the sentence diversion. The State objects.

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14 II. DISCUSSION

15 NRS 484C.400 provides that a third DUI offense in seven

16 years is a category B felony punishable by a term of imprisonment of

17 1 to 6 years with no probation being available. The Defendant has

18 acknowledged these consequences at least three separate times before

19 a Nevada court.

20 Notably, the offense triggering these consequences is not

21 for being addicted to alcohol; it is driving while under the

22 influence. The Defendant has been caught doing this on three

23 separate occasions, and on two of those she was so impaired she

24 crashed. The level of danger this Defendant has repeatedly presented

25 to the public cannot be overstated.

26 ///

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 1 Moreover, the Defendant received significant supervision

2 and treatment programs over the past six years to address the alcohol

3 problem she now states she is miraculously ready to address. Time

4 and time again, the Defendant demonstrated she was not an appropriate

5 candidate for out-of-custody supervision. Time and time again, the

6 Defendant abused not only the substance to which she is addicted, but

7 also the numerous chances given to her by the courts and alternative

8 sentencing programs that exist solely to help others just like her.

9 This time, like every other time, the Defendant is asking for yet

10 another chance.

11 The State must strongly object. At some point, the

12 Defendant must be held accountable for her repeated criminal conduct.

13 While the SB277 diversion program was designed to help defendants

14 with addictions to avoid a felony DUI conviction, the recidivism

15 rates cited to by the Defendant on page 3 of her Petition in

16 Mitigation are not proof that it is as effective as she posits. For

17 instance, there is no indication that the recidivism rate is lower

18 for those to complete the program because they completed the program.

19 Post hoc ergo propter hoc – after the fact, therefore because of the

20 fact – is a logical fallacy. For instance, the lower recidivism rate

21 for those who completed the SB277 program could very well be because

22 those candidates were more suitable for supervision based on their

23 history of compliance (or lack of history of non-compliance) than

24 those who were not selected.

25 ///

26 ///

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 1 Here, in spite of her history of re-offending and non-

2 compliance while under supervision and treatment, the Defendant asks

3 this Court to take another chance on her. However, the chance the

4 Defendant seeks does not only place herself at risk of being

5 incarcerated, but also every Nevada driver and pedestrian if she once

6 again abuses the chance provided to her. With close to half of

7 Nevada’s roadway fatalities being the result of impaired drivers,2 the

8 risk the Defendant requests the public and this Court to bear so that

9 she can avoid a felony conviction is simply too great.

10 Accordingly, the State submits this Defendant is not an

11 appropriate candidate for diversion and, therefore, objects to her

12 request.
CHRISTOPHER J. HICKS
13 District Attorney
Washoe County, Nevada
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15
By:_/s/ Shannon M. Bryant _
16 SHANNON M. BRYANT
6917
17 DEPUTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY
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25 2 From 2014 to 2018, 1,587 people died in fatal crashes in Nevada. Of those, 745
were a result of impaired driving. See
26 https://zerofatalitiesnv.com/app/uploads/2020/08/Crash-Facts_Impaired-Driving.pdf
(last visited October 9, 2020).

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3 AFFIRMATION PURSUANT TO NRS 239B.030

4 The party executing this document hereby affirms that this
5 document submitted for recording does not contain the social security
6 number of any person or persons pursuant to NRS 239B.030.
7
CHRISTOPHER J. HICKS
8 District Attorney
Washoe County, Nevada
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By:_/s/ Shannon M. Bryant _
11 SHANNON M. BRYANT
6917
12 DEPUTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY
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2 CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE BY E-FILING

3 I certify that I am an employee of the Washoe County

4 District Attorney's Office and that, on this date, I electronically

5 filed the foregoing with the Clerk of the Court by using the ECF

6 system which will send a notice of electronic filing to the

7 following:

8
DAVID HOUSTON, ESQ.
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10 DATED this 9th day of October, 2020.

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/s/GUADALUPE BARAJAS___
12 Guadalupe Barajas
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