Driver Who Killed Cyclist Magnus White Denied Parole

Yeva Smilianska, the driver convicted last year of hitting and killing Magnus White, 17, was denied parole yesterday. It was her first opportunity for parole after serving a little more than one year of a four-year sentence.

Smilianska was convicted in June 2025 of reckless vehicular homicide for striking and killing White outside Boulder, Colorado in late July 2023. White, a rising star in the USA Cycling program, had been out on a training ride shortly before he was scheduled to head off to Europe for a block of racing.

The White family believes that had Smilianska been drug tested at the scene, she would have faced a more severe punishment than the four-year sentence she ultimately received.

Smilianska maintained that she was tired after hanging out with friends and called her decision to get behind the wheel “horribly irresponsible” in the parole hearing. She maintains that she only drank a small amount that evening, and did not address evidence from the trial showing that she had been drinking before getting behind the wheel.

Smilianska addressed how her actions have impacted Magnus’ family, though did not mention Magnus’ name, saying “I can’t imagine how they handle all this. I know there’s nothing I can do or say anything. If there were, I would happily do it.”

“I wish I could do anything to help the damage I caused.”

Michael White, Magnus’ father, shared an Instagram post detailing the process of what it was like to listen in on the parole hearing as a family.

“This is what a parole hearing looks like,” he wrote.

“We’re not in a courtroom. We’re not at a prison. We’re in our living room. We haven’t showered. We sit as family, even our dog, and we wait for them to call us.

“At today’s hearing, we heard her speak for the first time ever in a casual, conversational setting. That’s how the interview goes with a parole board member. She didn’t know we were listening in on the hearing. It’s our right as victims.

“After listening to everything she said, it’s clear she STILL doesn’t take responsibility for killing Magnus. She told the parole board member, ‘I was hanging out with a friend, then the car crash happened.’ Then she blamed Magnus’ death on not getting ‘extra sleep.’

“When she was asked about the impact on the victim’s family, she started talking about herself. ‘I’m really struggling about what happened to myself.’ She never said Magnus’ name the entire hearing.”

He went on to thank everyone who wrote an impact statement before the hearing, saying that the Department of Corrections told them the over 500 letters was by far the most they had ever received.

“Today, we can breathe again,” White wrote.

Smilianska is eligible to seek parole again in one year.

 The White family started the White Line Foundation with the goal of ending vulnerable road user deaths. Learn more and donate at thewhiteline.org