KINGMAN, AZ : A Texas woman accused of driving drunk and killing a bicyclist on Wednesday, June 14, 2017

A Texas woman accused of driving drunk and killing a bicyclist was back in court Wednesday with a new attorney.

Melanie Luverne Jones, 42, is charged with felony manslaughter and four counts of misdemeanor driving under the influence of alcohol. One of the DUI charges is with an alcohol concentration higher than 0.20 percent.

A defendant convicted of manslaughter faces from seven to 21 years in prison. She is being held in county jail on a $250,000 bond.

Jones’s new attorney, Matthew Springer of Flagstaff, said he had just been assigned the case and doesn’t even have the file from the public defender’s office. He asked to continue Wednesday’s hearing.

Superior Court Judge Lee Jantzen set her next hearing for July 11.

Jones was driving a Mercury Milan southbound on Highway 95 near Home Depot around 6 p.m. May 5, when her car struck Robert Dale Fox II, 34, of Bullhead City as he was riding his bicycle. Fox’s bike struck a curb, throwing him off the bike. He died at the scene, Bullhead City police reported.

Jones’ car was damaged in the front passenger side. Jones, of Big Spring, Texas, was taken to a Bullhead City hospital for a blood alcohol draw before she was booked into county jail.

Preliminary results showed that her blood alcohol level was well above the legal limit and that she had drugs in her system. The legal alcohol limit in Arizona is 0.08 percent.


Source :
Woman accused in fatal crash hires own lawyer