Suspect in deadly crash may get drug treatment
By Amanda H. Miller, Jackson Hole, Wyo.
September 5, 2009
The man accused of being under the influence of prescription drugs during a crash that killed a motorcyclist in early August may be released before trial for inpatient addiction treatment.
Ninth Circuit Court Judge Curt Haws, who came from Pinedale to fill in for Judge Timothy C. Day, signed an order Friday overriding Day’s earlier order that Nathaniel A. Hubbs, 31, be held for community safety without bond on a probation violation charge.
Haws revoked Day’s order and connected the bail in the probation violation to the felony case, which was bound over to the district court last week.
Hubbs pleaded not guilty to vehicular homicide in 9th District Court Judge Nancy Guthrie’s courtroom Friday.
Hubbs’ attorney, Dick Mulligan, said Friday in court that he plans to file a motion for a lower bond and to release Hubbs to an inpatient drug addiction treatment facility.
Teton County Attorney Steve Weichman said he would not object.
“I have a renewed awareness of a defendant’s right to release,” he said. “I’m also grateful the Wyoming courts have a lot of power to fashion release terms.”
Weichman asked to submit a list — the result of an investigation by the sheriff’s office — of prescription drugs and pharmacies and physicians who served as sources for Hubbs. He also asked that Guthrie make it a term of release, in the event he is away when Mulligan’s motion is addressed in court, that Hubbs not have contact with the physicians or be in possession of any of the listed drugs.
Mulligan did not object.
Police said Hubbs’ GMC Yukon drifted into oncoming traffic on Broadway on Aug. 8, killing Martin Burbey, 54, of Oregon.
Hubbs faces up to 20 years in the Wyoming State Penitentiary and up to $10,000 in fines if found guilty.
Guthrie scheduled Hubbs’ case for a three-day trial at the end of February.
