The 19-year-old driver accelerated past 100 mph and never braked before hitting a line of cars stopped at a red light, say prosecutors.

LAS VEGAS, Nev. — Murder charges against a 19-year-old man accused of intentionally driving into stopped traffic in a 12-vehicle crash that killed his pregnant girlfriend and two other people in northwest Las Vegas were not thrown out by a Clark County judge.

The ruling keeps one of the valley’s most closely watched crash cases on track for trial as prosecutors argue the collision was not a reckless mistake but a deliberate act. Jose Gutierrez is accused of causing the Nov. 18 wreck at West Cheyenne Avenue and North Jones Boulevard, where authorities say his Infiniti sped into a line of vehicles waiting at a red light. The case now turns on whether jurors will see the evidence as proof of intent, while defense lawyers continue to argue there is no clear sign of premeditation.

District Judge Michelle Leavitt denied the defense request on Wednesday after hearing arguments over whether prosecutors had shown enough evidence to support murder counts. Gutierrez, now 19, is charged with murder with a deadly weapon, reckless driving resulting in death, attempted murder with a deadly weapon and battery. Prosecutors say he accelerated at full throttle for nearly a mile before the crash, reaching more than 100 mph in a 45 mph zone on Nov. 18, 2025. They say he drove straight into cars stopped at the intersection without braking or swerving. Clark County Chief Deputy District Attorney Nicholas Portz argued in court that intent can be inferred from the way the crash unfolded. He said the defendant “drove in a straight line directly at a group of vehicles stopped at a red light,” describing the conduct as more deliberate than a split-second traffic error.

The crash scene was deadly almost at once. Authorities say Gutierrez’s passenger, 20-year-old Adilene Duran Rincon, died after the collision. Her family has said she was pregnant. Edward Garcia, 38, another driver caught in the pileup, also died. A third victim, 25-year-old Vanessa Lainez Vasquez, suffered critical injuries and later died at a hospital on Dec. 4, widening the scope of the case weeks after the wreck. Prosecutors have said toxicology and other early findings did not show Gutierrez was impaired by alcohol or drugs at the time. That point has become central to the state’s theory that the crash was intentional rather than the result of intoxication. The defense has disputed that reading and has pointed to a possible medical episode, saying Gutierrez reported memory gaps and a history of seizures after the crash. Whether that claim is supported by medical evidence remains a live issue in the case.

Investigators and witnesses have added details that prosecutors say support their version of events. Police reports cited by local outlets say witnesses saw the silver Infiniti moving at about 100 mph as it approached the red light. Officers also said there was no apparent effort to avoid impact. One witness, Assaf Cohen, testified at an earlier hearing that the crash looked unlike a normal accident because the car did not appear to swerve or brake. Another witness with military and law enforcement experience described rushing to help after the impact. A trauma surgeon who treated Gutierrez at University Medical Center later testified that he was awake, alert and following commands, though injured, after the collision. The state has also pointed to video and telematics evidence, though not all of that material has been aired in full in open court. The defense, by contrast, has argued that speed alone does not prove intent and that prosecutors have not shown a motive strong enough to justify first-degree murder charges.

The case has also drawn attention because of what prosecutors have said about Gutierrez’s history before the crash. Local court records reviewed by news outlets show he had been cited for speeding in October after police said he was driving 52 mph in a 35 mph zone. Reports also say he had earlier been arrested in a separate case involving threats toward a police officer. Prosecutors have used those records to paint a broader picture of risky and aggressive behavior, though prior incidents are not the same as proof in the crash itself. In the days after the wreck, authorities alleged Gutierrez may have been trying to kill Duran Rincon, a claim that sharpened public focus on the relationship between the driver and his passenger. Even so, the motive has not been fully explained in public filings. That leaves one of the biggest unanswered questions in the case: why, if the crash was intentional, prosecutors say it happened.

Legal stakes remain high. Earlier hearings resulted in Gutierrez being held without bail, and prosecutors later told the court they were exploring whether to send the case to a death review committee, the first step in deciding whether to seek capital punishment if he were convicted. His arraignment had already been delayed once to allow for that review process. Leavitt’s latest ruling does not decide guilt, and it does not settle whether the most serious penalties will be pursued. It does mean the murder allegations survive an early challenge and can continue toward later pretrial hearings and, eventually, a jury trial unless there is a plea agreement or another major ruling. Defense attorney Thomas Moskal argued that the state’s case relies too heavily on a single inference: that fast driving, no braking and a violent impact automatically equal premeditated murder. Leavitt disagreed, finding enough evidence at this stage for the charges to remain in place.

The human cost of the crash has stayed close to the case from the start. Duran Rincon’s death turned what might have been viewed as another major traffic case into a story about a young woman, her pregnancy and a family suddenly planning a funeral instead of a future. Garcia died at the scene in another vehicle that happened to be stopped in the line of traffic. Vasquez’s death days later deepened the grief, and coworkers at Shang Artisan Noodle remembered her as kind and hardworking, saying she had been married only months earlier. In court, short witness accounts have often carried the most force, not because they answer every legal question but because they describe what people saw in plain terms: a car racing forward, no sign of avoidance and destruction spread across a busy Las Vegas intersection during evening traffic.

With the case’s murder charges intact and more court proceedings ahead, Gutierrez was scheduled to return to court on March 4. The next major milestone is whether prosecutors narrow or expand the charges and clarify whether they will seek the death penalty.