A Colorado jury on Friday convicted a driver of vehicular homicide nearly two years after her SUV struck and killed teen Team USA cyclist Magnus White. The verdict was read after 7 hours of deliberation in the week-long trial.
The crash happened in July 2023 near White’s home in Boulder on Highway 119. Yeva Smilianska’s SUV struck White while the 17-year-old was on a training ride and riding on the paved shoulder of the highway and her car then continued off the road and down an embankment.
Smilianska admitted during the trial that she had fallen asleep behind the wheel before the crash happened. Her attorneys argued that she should have been charged with careless driving, not vehicular homicide, because the collision was an accident.
She will be sentenced for the crime on June 13 at 10 a.m.
