Jury finds woman guilty in '04 death of cyclist

 


Salt Lake Tribune

 

WEST JORDAN -- A woman who struck and killed a bicyclist in Big Cottonwood Canyon last year has been found guilty of negligent homicide.
    A 3rd District Court jury returned the verdict against Elizabeth DeSeelhorst Thursday afternoon following about five hours of deliberation.
    DeSeelhorst, 67, faces up to a year in jail when she is sentenced by Judge Royal Hansen.
    Despite a defense strategy that sought to lay the blame for the crash on her history of mini-strokes, the jury decided that DeSeelhorst was criminally negligent when she struck and killed 25-year-old Josie Johnson on Sept. 18, 2004, crash
    The incident prompted a highly vocal outcry in Utah's cycling community, which has complained for years about motorists'
   inattentiveness to cyclists.