Vegas prosecutor defends release of man who later killed self after Stratosphere crash

FILE - In this Sept. 11, 2014 booking file photo, provided by Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department shows Ryan C. Brown, 40, following his arrest on Sept. 10, at the Stratosphere on the Las Vegas Strip. The district attorney in Las Vegas says drug tests weren't complete and criminal charges weren't ready to be filed against Brown who committed suicide after he was accused of crashing his vehicle through the Stratosphere casino doors. District Attorney Steve Wolfson said Friday, Sept. 19, that without blood test results, there wasn't enough evidence to charge Brown or ask a judge to keep him in jail. (AP Photo/Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, File) (The Associated Press)

The district attorney in Las Vegas says drug tests weren't complete and criminal charges weren't ready to be filed against a man who committed suicide after he was accused of crashing his vehicle through the Stratosphere casino doors.

District Attorney Steve Wolfson said Friday that without blood test results, there wasn't enough evidence to charge Ryan C. Brown or ask a judge to keep him in jail.

A judge freed the 40-year-old Brown from jail on Monday, five days after his arrest in the Sept. 10 crash.

Brown was found hanging Tuesday in a room at the Rio hotel-casino. His death was ruled a suicide.

Wolfson says it was up to the Clark County jail to screen Brown for mental illness and suicidal tendencies when he was arrested.