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David Cleveland, who will be tried in district court for his role in a Thanksgiving Day 2006 traffic fatality, paid his passenger $1,000 after the accident and offered further payments of $500 per week, according to testimony during a preliminary hearing Friday.

Cleveland, the co-owner of Valley Homes, was remanded to district court for trial after Pahrump Justice of the Peace Tina Brisebill found probable cause to try him on six counts of driving under the influence of illegal substances causing death and bodily harm.

When defense attorney Ozzie Fumo reminded Brisebill a no-bail hold was only allowed in homicide cases, Brisebill ordered Cleveland held on $50 million bail. His arraignment will be at 9 a.m., June 11.

Key witness Raymond Hancock, a passenger in Cleveland's Cadillac Escalade sport utility vehicle at the time of the wreck that took the life of California resident Jeremy Moon, testified to the initial payment and the promise of more later on.

Hancock testified he was singing karaoke at Sullivan's Pub the night before the accident, when Cleveland, who was gambling at the bar, complimented his good voice and bought him a drink. Eventually Hancock asked Cleveland for a ride home.

Hancock said Cleveland drove south on Homestead Road, swayed onto the right shoulder, then gunned the accelerator and drove into the opposing lane of traffic.

The Escalade struck a pickup heading north that was driven by Moon, 27 of Fontana, Calif., who died at the scene. Two passengers in Moon's vehicle were injured while, in Cleveland's vehicle, Hancock lost part of his ear.

Hancock testified he told Cleveland to slow down. Before drifting off the road, Hancock testified Cleveland had looked down for a moment to shift gears.

On cross-examination by the prosecution, Hancock testified that just before the accident he remarked to Cleveland, a former NASCAR columnist for the Pahrump Valley Times, about the power of his SUV. After that, Hancock testified, "He gunned it."

Hancock told defense attorneys Cleveland seemed sober when he was driving him home, although sheriff's deputies testified Cleveland's blood and urine tested positive for marijuana, cocaine, oxazepam and temazepam.

Oxazepam is described in a National Institutes of Health-associated Web site, MedlinePlus, as a drug used to relieve anxiety caused by alcohol withdrawal, while the same site describes temazepam as a short-term drug used to help individuals fall and stay asleep. Each can produce drowsiness, the site reports.

Hancock testified Cleveland later remarked about detecting a ticking noise in his SUV seconds before the accident. The steering wheel came off in the accident.

Brisebill overruled defense objections to allow Hancock to answer whether he was ever offered any money. He testified Cleveland gave him $1,000. The defense attorneys tried to limit Hancock's testimony to imply that conversation may have occurred at the former Sullivan's Pub before the accident, but District Attorney Bob Beckett elicited testimony that payment came afterward.

"He was helping me out with some bills and stuff," Hancock replied.

On further examination, Hancock testified Cleveland discussed sponsoring him in a record deal. "It was about a music thing, I believe," Hancock testified.

The court viewed a handwritten contract in which Cleveland offered to pay Hancock $500 per week.

Hancock said Cleveland coyly asked him what he did with the steering wheel. After that, Hancock testified that Cleveland asked him if he was driving the SUV at the time of the crash.

Testimony from emergency responders showed Cleveland was walking around the SUV after the accident, while Hancock testified he walked to his sister's house on Manse Road, where he telephoned 911 for medical aid.

Anna Moon, Jeremy's widow, testified they were visiting family in Pahrump over Thanksgiving and decided to drive to Wal-Mart that morning. Neither Moon nor another passenger, Crystal Lopez, 15, a Pahrump Valley High School student, remembered much about the impact.

"It was like it came out of nowhere. I don't remember the impact. All of a sudden this vehicle appeared, I was laying on the dirt, I was laying on the ground," Moon testified.

Moon testified to having a list of medical problems after the accident: a fractured left kidney no longer functioning, a lacerated spleen and gall bladder, bruised pancreas, bruised lungs and three broken ribs.

She couldn't remember anything due to sedation until the following Monday and was in the intensive care unit at University Medical Center until the following Wednesday or Thursday. Moon testified she was released from the hospital Dec. 4, but was then readmitted with more problems three days later.

Lopez woke up to excruciating pain in her arm, which required a plate with 26 screws. She had been hoping for a soccer scholarship but now has been told she can't play soccer.

Heather Koultas, who was riding in a pickup truck just in front of Moon's, testified she pulled over after the accident occurred and noticed the time, 7:01 a.m. She also remembered a Faith Hill song was playing on the radio. She tried to help the victims, calling 911.

"I remembered a black SUV pass me and as it passed me I'm going, 'Wow! It's going real fast!" Koultas testified. "I saw the SUV go in the other lane and hit the white pickup truck behind me."

Nevada Highway Patrol Trooper Joshua Moses, a crash investigator, testified he performed two tests to analyze the speed and estimated Cleveland was driving either 77 to 87 mph or 72 to 82 mph in a 45 mph zone.

The first officer on the scene, Nye County Dep. Douglas McKillips, testified Cleveland admitted using marijuana and cocaine. Defense attorneys tried unsuccessfully to strike Cleveland's statements to two deputies on the scene, on the grounds Cleveland wasn't apprised of his Miranda rights.

"Mr. Cleveland got very talkative and began volunteering answers," Beckett replied.

Dep. David Borchuowitz added Cleveland admitted using marijuana and cocaine in the days before the accident, while giving a urine sample in the bushes near the scene of the accident, which occurred near the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post.