Reno, NV (AP) - Lawyers for the man accused of kidnapping and killing a Fernley teenager are seeking to dismiss the murder charge by arguing he can’t be tried in Lyon County because she was killed in a neighboring county.
Troy Driver’s public defenders filed the motion to dismiss Thursday in justice court in Lyon County where Driver is scheduled to appear Tuesday on first-degree murder, kidnapping and other charges in the March death of Naomi Irion, 18.
They cite a Nevada Supreme Court ruling last year that forced separate prosecutions of a Salvadoran immigrant who eventually pleaded guilty to four murders in two counties.
They say evidence shows Irion was killed in Churchill County where her body was found buried in the desert northeast of Fernley.
Prosecutors said in charging Driver in April that he abducted Irion in Lyon County from a Wal-Mart parking lot in Fernley “for the purpose of committing sexual assault and/or purpose of killing her.”
Such an intent would establish jurisdiction for a Lyon County murder trial under the high court’s ruling in the case of Wilber Ernesto Martinez Guzman.
But Driver’s lawyers say prosecutors won’t be able to prove he was the kidnapper, and therefore can’t establish he had the intent or committed the necessary ``preparatory act” to be tried for murder in Lyon County.