Driver to Be Tried in 8 Deaths

A University of Wyoming student was ordered to stand trial on eight counts of aggravated vehicular homicide Wednesday after a state trooper testified that evidence showed the student was drunk when his pickup truck crossed the center line and smashed into a vehicle carrying eight University of Wyoming athletes.

Circuit Judge Robert A. Castor said there was sufficient evidence to try Clinton Haskins, 21, for the deaths in the Sept. 16 collision. No trial date was set, and Haskins has not entered a plea. He is free on $100,000 bond.

During Haskins’ preliminary hearing, Trooper Dave Rettinger testified that, based on a blood test, Haskins’ alcohol level was 0.16, above the state’s legal limit of 0.10.

“When I walked up to the pickup, I could immediately smell the odor of an alcoholic beverage, strongly,” said Rettinger, who arrived at the scene on U.S. 287 south of Laramie about half an hour after the wreck.

He said, however, that the driver of the sport-utility vehicle carrying the eight athletes was not under the influence of alcohol or drugs. Nicholas J. Schabron, 20, of Laramie, had a blood-alcohol level of “point-zero-zero,” Rettinger said.