A black Volkswagen jumped the curb and veered toward Joree Odabi as the 23-year-old walked through his southwest Las Vegas neighborhood on May 6, 2025, striking him and killing him at the scene. More than a year later, the case against the driver, Daniel Stakleff, has landed before the Nevada Supreme Court, where justices must decide whether the numerical THC threshold in state law even applies to the felony DUI charge he faces.
Stakleff is charged with DUI resulting in death and reckless driving resulting in death, according to KTNV Channel 13. A grand jury indicted him on both felony charges after reviewing video and photographic evidence, including footage showing the moments leading up to the deadly collision, the station reports. Prosecutors say Stakleff's THC level was approximately seven times Nevada's legal limit at the time of the crash.
Stakleff's defense has asked the Nevada Supreme Court to throw out the indictment, arguing the numerical THC limit did not apply to the DUI resulting in death charge when Odabi was killed. The defense contends prosecutors had to establish that Stakleff was actually impaired by marijuana, rather than relying solely on a blood test exceeding the statutory threshold, and it requested dismissal of the indictment without prejudice, which would allow prosecutors to pursue the case again if the challenge succeeds.
How Nevada's THC Law Got Complicated
The dispute traces back to Nevada Assembly Bill 400, enacted in July 2021, which eliminated per se blood THC limits for misdemeanor DUI cases and instead required prosecutors to prove actual impairment. But the law explicitly retained numerical thresholds — 2 nanograms per milliliter of delta-9-THC or 5 nanograms per milliliter of its metabolite — for felony DUI offenses such as those causing death, according to Reno News & Review. Current Nevada law includes those numerical marijuana concentration thresholds within the provisions applicable to DUI resulting in death, and a further change to state law took effect January 1, 2026, adding another layer to the legal landscape surrounding the case.
Clark County District Court Judge Ron Israel denied an earlier defense motion challenging the grand jury proceedings and, in September 2025, denied the defense's motion to dismiss the indictment outright, per KTNV. That ruling allowed the criminal case to continue while the defense pursued its appeal to the state's highest court, which has not yet ruled on the challenge.
Scene Evidence and an Officer's Observations
Court records cited by the station describe an officer who reported possible signs of impairment during field sobriety testing and described Stakleff's eyes as red and watery. A witness reported that Stakleff discarded something into nearby bushes after the crash, and police recovered marijuana packaging from those bushes, according to court records. Separately, an LVMPD arrest report cited by the Las Vegas Review-Journal stated that officers found an empty marijuana vape cartridge and pen wrapper inside his vehicle, along with shoe scuff marks on the sidewalk and a knocked-over light pole at the scene.
That same report noted Stakleff allegedly attempted to hide receipts for marijuana vape pens and a cannabis dispensary bag in nearby landscaping immediately after the crash, according to the Review-Journal's account of the police arrest report. Stakleff's attorney, Charles Goodwin, declined an interview with Channel 13 but said in an email that the defense had nothing further to add beyond its court filings while the matter remained pending.
Bail Fight and a Family's Grief
Stakleff's initial bail was set at just $5,000, even though the state had originally asked for $250,000, according to News 3 Las Vegas. In July 2025, Clark County District Court Judge Joseph Bonaventure increased that bail to $50,000, telling the court he had misspoken when he set the original amount. The family's outrage over the low initial bail was a visible part of the proceedings, per the same News 3 report.
Joree Odabi's mother, Valerie Odabi, said the loss was still impossible to accept. A GoFundMe memorial campaign established for the family after the crash remembered the 23-year-old as full of life and raised thousands of dollars toward funeral expenses, the Review-Journal reported.
A Broader Pattern of Impaired Driving on Nevada Roads
The crash that killed Odabi marked the 63rd traffic-related death investigated by the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department within its jurisdiction in 2025 as of the time of the incident, according to News 3. Countywide, Clark County recorded 239 total traffic fatalities in 2025, a 19 percent decrease from the 296 traffic deaths reported in 2024, per Nevada Office of Traffic Safety data cited by the Review-Journal. Statewide, impairment by alcohol or drugs was a factor in 819 roadway fatalities between 2019 and 2023, representing 44.8 percent of all traffic deaths in Nevada during that period, according to data published by Zero Fatalities Nevada and cited by NO BS Las Vegas Personal Injury Lawyers.
Under Nevada DUI enforcement procedures, officers must obtain blood or breath samples within two hours of initial contact with a suspect for the results to serve as direct statutory evidence in court, according to Casino.org. That timing requirement is part of what makes the THC threshold dispute now before the Nevada Supreme Court so consequential — the outcome could shape how prosecutors pursue felony DUI cases statewide even as Stakleff's case remains pending.
.jpg){kind=link}