Status hearing for Troy Driver continued to July 5

Robert Perea, The Fernley Reporter

The pretrial hearing Tuesday for Troy Driver, the man charged with kidnapping and murdering Naomi Irion, was continued to July 5 as a pretrial hearing.

Lyon County District Attorney Steve Rye requested the hearing in Canal Township Justice Court be continued for 45 to 60 days and held as a pretrial hearing. Richard Davies, the attorney representing Driver, said the reason for the continuation is that he is waiting for more discovery to be turned over to the defense by the District Attorney’s Office.

Driver and Davies appeared for the hearing via Zoom, while Rye was present in court.

Judge Lori Matheus set the pretrial hearing for 1:30 p.m. July 5.

Irion was kidnapped from the Walmart parking lot on March 12, where she was waiting in her car for a shuttle bus to work. Driver was arrested March 25, and Irion’s body was found March 30 in a remote area of Churchill County. According to the Churchill County Sheriff’s Office, Irion had been shot in the head and chest.

Following Tuesday’s brief hearing, Irion’s brother, Casey Valley, said his family is prepared for a long wait for justice.

“Bureaucracy moves slowly, so that’s what we’re looking at here,” Valley said. “It’s unfortunate that it takes this long to get things going, but that’s the system that we have.”

Valley said the District Attorney’s Office doesn’t necessarily keep Irion’s family updated with the legal maneuverings.

“Not so much right now, and that’s mostly to maintain the integrity of the evidence in the case,” he said. “It’s really important for that.”

Irion’s sister, Tamara Cartwright, said she is moving to Fernley to be involved in everything related to her sister’s case.

“I don’t want the focus to be on the suspect, I want the focus to be on my sister and her life, and the potential that was lost,” Cartwright said.