A Boulder County jury on Friday night convicted the driver who struck and killed 17-year-old rising cycling star Magnus White nearly two years ago.
Jurors found Yeva Smilianska, 24, guilty of one count of reckless vehicular homicide for fatally hitting the USA Cycling junior cyclist on Colo. 119 in July 2023.
Smilianska, who remains out of custody, is scheduled to be sentenced June 13. She faces a presumptive sentence of two to six years in prison, but the sentence is probation-eligible, according to Boulder County District Attorney Michael Dougherty.
White was riding his bike southbound on Colo. 119, just south of the 63rd Street intersection in Boulder County at 12:33 p.m. July 29, 2023, when he was hit by Smilianska, who was driving a Toyota Matrix that had crossed from the righthand lane into the shoulder, according to Colorado State Patrol Trooper Gabriel Moltrer.
White was taken to a local hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
Investigators said in an arrest affidavit that “based on the totality of circumstances, it appears most likely that Smilianska was asleep at the time of the crash.”
Following Friday’s verdict, White’s parents spoke outside the Boulder County Justice Center.
“We want to start with Magnus because it was his life that was stolen. He was our boy, our beautiful, beautiful boy and brother,” Magnus’s mother, Jill, said at the news conference.
Jill White said she would often rub her son’s feet each night, something she did when she last saw him before he died.
“He was a leader on the bike, he was a leader off the bike. So many of his friends looked up to him and considered him a best friend,” Jill White said.
During the news conference, the Whites criticized the agencies that responded to the crash, including the Colorado State Patrol.
“Make no mistake, that driver killed Magnus, but the trial revealed something else: the systemic failure by those whose job it is to protect the public,” Michael White, Magnus’s father, said.
Michael White said CSP was understaffed, protocols were not followed and Smilianska was never drug-tested — but his son was.
He added: “A state trooper visited us at the hospital later that day as we held onto the last moments of our son’s life. We thought she would tell us they were investigating the driver who killed our son, and instead, we were told the driver did everything right. It was incredibly hurtful and left us wondering if Magnus’s death was even being taken seriously.”
‘Magnus’ death was not a accident, it was a crime’
During the news conference, Michael White said cocaine could be seen in admitted evidence that was later redacted. The jury also did not have access to text conversations that Smilianska had with another person the day of the crash about buying cocaine, he said.
According to White, mentions of cocaine were never allowed to be considered by the jury. It was not clear from the court proceedings that Smilianska was under the influence of cocaine or had the drug in her possession at the time of the crash.
“Magnus’s death was not a accident, it was a crime,” Michael White said.
“Please continue to walk with us and speak Magnus’s name and stand with every family whose loved one was stolen from them by a reckless or careless driver,” Michael White said, tearing up. “We’ll never stop missing our Magnus, and we will never stop fighting for him.”
Magnus White’s parents founded a nonprofit in their son’s honor called the “The White Line.” It was founded “to preserve, honor, and use the legacy of U.S. National Team Member and U.S. National Champion Magnus White to inspire cyclists globally, to support their development, to raise awareness of bicycle and automobile safety and create change for safer cycling environments,” according to a news release.
“That ‘shutdown’ — that wasn’t seeing Magnus, that was her exhaustion”
Earlier on Friday, Deputy District Attorney Trish Mittelstadt walked jurors through the evidence before asking them to find Smilianska guilty of reckless vehicular homicide.
“On July 29, 2023, the defendant recklessly drove her car, smashing into the back of Magnus White’s bicycle, killing him. The defendant stayed up all night, drinking with the friend and got little sleep before deciding to get on 119,” Mittelstadt said.
Mittelstadt said Smilianska consciously disregarded a substantial and unjustifiable risk.
“She swerves two times, and then on the last time, she crashes right into the back of him, sending him flying in the air,” Mittelstadt said.
She continued: “This is not dozing off behind the wheel — this is passing out, because when you doze off and you hit a bicyclist and they crash into your car, you wake up.”
Mittelstadt also noted multiple witnesses testified that Smilianska’s demeanor was odd following the crash.
“Her demeanor didn’t change from when she got out of the car to when she walked over,” Mittelstadt said. “That ‘shutdown’ — that wasn’t seeing Magnus, that was her exhaustion.”
In the defense’s closing arguments, attorney Timur Kishinevsky said Smilianska is entitled to be who she is.
“We’re not all the same — some people can take grief and shock differently,” Kishinevsky said.
In rebuttal, Dougherty noted the witnesses’ testimony about trying to help White on the scene.
“It’s in the face of tragedy, it’s in the face of death, it’s in the face of unspeakable loss that people do the right thing,” Dougherty said. “And while that’s happening, the defendant is asking to leave and is showing no remorse.”
Despite the noticeably odd behavior, six law enforcement officers did not see signs of intoxication, according to the court proceedings. Mittelstadt said Smilianska was “exhausted and hungover” the morning of the crash but she made clear that this was not a DUI case.
“This is a case about reckless driving and the decisions the defendant made that led to Magnus’s death, not DUI,” Mittelstadt said.
Kishinevsky later criticized the prosecution and said they were taking a “back door” approach to making the case about alcohol.
Mittelstadt also noted that at three different times, including when presented with opposing evidence, Smilianska said the crash was caused by a steering malfunction. Mittelstadt then showed the body camera footage of Smilianska at the scene of the crash explaining that her steering wheel got stuck.
“She continued to tell this story not because she couldn’t accept this — she didn’t want to be held responsible for it,” Mittelstadt said.
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