A lot of mothers well up with joyful tears as they proudly announce that their children are the best thing that has ever happened to them. Marion Reyes, a 35-year-old Las Vegas mother with seven DUIs on her record, stunned officers by stating that the best thing for her is prison and she desperately hopes that her latest arrest lasts.
Reyes said: “I feel like this time is different because I’m actually being punished. I was not thinking. I was not thinking of my own family. I could have left my mother childless; I could have left my children motherless.”
On October 13, 2022, police officers arrested Reyes after she parked her car in the middle of two travel lanes on Warm Springs Road near Green Valley Parkway. The mother of four entered Henderson Justice Court five days later for her seventh DUI charge since 2007.
A few weeks later, Judge Stephen George granted bail at $5,000 and prosecutors pushed for a higher $50,000 bail due to her prior convictions.
Back in June 2022, the Nevada DMV revoked her license and the following month, Clark County School District police arrested Reyes on a DUI charge shortly after Reyes was in court sorting out a different DUI case.
“Reyes was previously arrested on DUI charges in April 2007, September 2010, April 2019, February 2020, and July 2020, totaling seven,” the documents stated. Reyes is fighting the count, saying it’s only been six as opposed to the records revealing seven.
“Unfortunately, I made the mistake of turning to alcohol and thinking that, you know, I could have made it home,” Reyes said about her impaired driving.
Reyes agreed to a plea deal where officials agreed to drop two of three-new DUI charges in exchange for her participation in a treatment program. She was instructed to live at the rehab facility where she wouldn’t be able to see her children and is required to wear an alcohol-monitoring bracelet.
According to the terms of her plea deal, if she gets another DUI charge, Reyes would be sent to prison.
Based on Reyes’ story, the facility reported her for two more violations and sent her to meet a judge who put her in prison for two days. At the jail, a corrections officer removed her court-issued alcohol-monitoring bracelet and upon release, the bracelet was not attached back to her ankle.
Las Vegas Metro police, which operates the jail, is investigating Reyes’ story to find out what happened to the bracelet. As the case continues to be under investigation, Reyes stated that she is actually ready to be handcuffed and would like to get the sentencing done. “I wanted to go to prison,” she said. “I wanted to get this done and over with.”
Reyes admits she could have killed someone due to impaired driving and explained that the substance abuse was her coping mechanism during a custody battle. “It’s just the bad judgment and the thinking that you’re just going down the street,” Reyes said.
Reyes aspires to wrap up her sentencing, serve her jail time and turn over a new leaf for her family. She is grateful to still be breathing and moving forward, Reyes wants to embrace a sober lifestyle for her safety and the safety of others.
“Las Vegas obviously is just not the place for me,” she said. “I am remorseful and that I am sorry and that I am thankful every single day that this turned out the way it did and it didn’t turn out with somebody’s loved one or myself being six feet under.”