Families want justice

The families of three people killed in a fatal Silver Springs car accident in July are outraged the man police say was drunk was never charged.

Insult was added to injury, they say, when they learned earlier this month he was arrested again for allegedly drinking and driving in an unrelated incident.

"How many people are going to die before this guy goes to jail?" the grandmother of Louis Norton asked.

Norton, 15, along with friend Robert Marek 16, and Marek's grandfather, 63-year-old Harold Marek, were killed July 31 when their vehicle was struck at the intersection of Fir Avenue and Highway 95A in Silver Springs. The elder Marek had picked the boys up from a day of fishing at Lake Lahontan.

Mark Fejervary, 47, who authorities say was drunk, was treated at Washoe Medical Center. He was never charged in the accident.

The problem for the prosecution, said Lyon County District Attorney Leon Aberasturi, is who was at fault.

There is some speculation that Harold Marek may have pulled in front of Fejervary's car, he said.

"We have an outside reconstruction firm looking," at the accident, he said. "Fejervary is either going to get charged with a DUI or a DUI causing death. We wanted to get an outside look, because we only have one shot at this."

On March 9 in the parking lot of Piper's Casino, Fejervary was arrested for suspicion of drunken driving.

It was his second time being arrested on that charge, according to police reports. His first arrest ended in a conviction in February 2001. He posted bail on the latest charge and was released from custody.

"Children who've lost a parent are called orphans. Wives who lose their husbands are widows. But what do you call parents who've lost their child?" asked Louis Norton's father, Bruce.

"You don't call them anything. There are no words. This pain is indescribable."

Bruce Norton said his world came crashing in around him, his wife and two daughters on the day his son died. Since that day he hasn't been back to work as a steeplejack, a job he'd done for more than 20 years.

The family's nest egg, $10,000, was spent burying their only son.

What he sees as the long wait for justice is slowly driving him mad.

"I'd like to ask the DA how well they would handle losing their son," he said.

Gloria Marek knows too well Bruce Norton's pain.

Both her father and son were killed in the accident. She is baffled at the length of time it's taken for Fejervary to be charged.

"Thank God I've got Bruce. Other than him I've got nobody. Nobody," she said dissolving into tears.

"I can hear all the kids playing outside on the trampoline when Robby and Louis should be with them."

Abersturi is adamant the course his office is taking is the correct one.

"We have to do this right. We can't rush this and have the guy possibly get off the hook. When we have a thorough investigation done, charges will be brought," he said.