Colorado family "angered, disappointed, depressed" at potential early release of driver who killed their son

The family of Magnus White received a letter from the Colorado Department of Corrections this week informing them that the woman who struck and killed their son could be transferred from state prison to community corrections, three months into a four-year sentence.

It came on the week when Michael and Jill White observed what would have been the 20th birthday of their son without him. They let the candles on a cake burn. They added a tree to the small memorial where a ghost bike remains in memory of Magnus White. The young cyclist was preparing for the upcoming World Championships in Scotland when he was struck.

"You're reading it multiple times like, 'is this real?' We just finished the sentencing process," said Magnus' father. "We're furious. You know. We're angered, disappointed, depressed. So many emotions wrapped into this."

It left Jill White wishing she were somewhere else.

"I said, 'I can't live here,' and I stormed out," she said. "I just had to keep walking to process it."

If Yeva Smilianska is moved to community corrections, the state notes that it allows some restricted privileges to access the community as offenders change their behavior. It's considered a sentencing or placement alternative.

It comes five months after Smilianska was sentenced by a Boulder County judge for the 2023 crime. 

But the Whites wonder about the lack of a punitive penalty. Smilianska entered a state prison in late August. The potential of parole was not expected until April of 2027.

"I strongly believe we need more certainty in sentencing, not just for victims and their families, but also for the defendant and for the community members," said Boulder district attorney Michael Dougherty. "Right now in Colorado, it's unnecessarily complicated when you consider parole eligibility, good time and earned time, reducing the sentence, and also community corrections eligibility."

Under state law, an offender is eligible to apply for community corrections 16 months before parole eligibility, except those convicted of first-degree murder.

"I think we're causing everybody a lot of questions and concern, and ultimately, re-traumatization when the sentence comes nowhere close to meeting what they heard from the judge in the courtroom," Dougherty said.

The letter added more pain for the Whites.

"This is an awful process. And it just shows the state doesn't care about victims and family rights. It's really just all about the defendant," Michael White said.

The couple has added their voices to advocate for harsher penalties for such crimes and now feel they will ask state lawmakers to review the community corrections eligibility as well.

The letter, they felt, was harsh and not well-explained.

"When it's so out of the blue, it's like you're moving along at a steady speed and just, boom, back into it. And then you have to climb slowly, steady up again," Jill White said.

They were prepared for less time than the four-year sentence, but not this after three months in a state prison.

"So we know they would never serve a full sentence," Michael White said. "But to have this so soon into the sentence, where we just wrapped up for 685 days, from the time Magnus was killed to when she was sentenced, is- the sentencing and punishment do not fit the gravity of the crime."