A Boulder judge Friday sentenced the woman who hit and killed 17-year-old cycling phenom Magnus White to four years in prison.

District Court Judge Dea Marie Lindsey sentenced 24-year-old Yeva Smilianska on a count of vehicular homicide in connection to White’s death on the morning of July 29, 2023.

The defendant faced up to six years for the charge, with Lindsey deciding on a shorter sentence with a three-year mandatory parole because Smilianska did not have a prior criminal history and her consumption of alcohol cannot be proven. 

She will not be required to pay restitution at this time. The White family had described that decision tragic.

White’s family, filling nearly both sides of the courtroom, dropped their heads when the sentencing was handed down.

“You’re witnessing someone living a nightmare, a nightmare I’ll never wake up from. The loss of a child is the worst loss a human being can endure,” Magnus’ father, Michael White, said.

Lindsey, through tears, said, “I don’t think it’s possible to express the sorrow this court feels for the family. This case has been on my mind since the trial. I believe the nature of the offense was horrifying and the outcome was the worst outcome possible to a victim.”

Smilianska sat and listened to her Russian interpreter, as the prosecution showed a photo of Smilianska smoking something. The prosecution claimed it happened outside of the courthouse during the trial.

A second photo showed Smilianska with her family and defense attorneys smiling in the court conference room. 

The two photos were posted on social media during the trial, according to Dougherty.

“She’s taking selfies in the conference room outside,” Boulder District Attorney Michael Dougherty yelled, growing red. “I’ve never seen this in 27 years and I hope I never see it again.”

The defense said that Smilianska did not post the pictures herself and her flat expressions were due to medications. 

Dougherty said that Smilianska showed no remorse or care throughout the entire two-year process, that she often lied about her story and that she used her potential deportation as a way to elicit sympathy.

Smilianska, born in the Ukraine, claimed to have moved to the U.S. during the country’s war with Russia during 2022. The prosecution claimed she moved here in 2017 and has legal residency. 

“The war in Ukraine is terrifying for people. The talk of deportation is terrifying for people. She uses those things as a sword,” Dougherty said. 

According to the defense, Smilianska’s parents moved to the U.S. in 2017, and she visited often but did not officially move until 2022.

The defendant will likely be deported back to the Ukraine after her time in prison.

“For our family, everything will be decided today,” Smilianska’s mother, Oleksandra Smilianska, said, adding that she will follow her daughter back to Ukraine.

The crash

The crash occurred on Highway 119 and North 63rd Street near Gunbarrel, where investigators said Smilianska’s Toyota Matrix slammed into White and his bicycle.

White, a champion cyclist from Boulder, was riding on a paved portion of the road, training for the U.S. national team for mountain biking, when Smilianska crashed into him. White hit the hood of the car before Smilianska’s vehicle continued into a field, eventually striking a fence around 300 feet away.

White later died at a nearby hospital.

White was about to sign a contract in Europe and was about to ride with the national team — a dream he wanted since sixth grade.

Smilianska had no prior criminal history after moving to the United States. She was a screenwriter in Ukraine who sold her first television show at 18.

“She had a promising career. She had friends. She had community. Then the war broke,” Sofia Drobinskaya, Smilianska’s friend, told the court. “She decided to run away to the U.S.”

She called Smilianska’s life a “sequence of sorrow, bad life, trauma and bad choices.”