Driver set for trial in fatal Lee Hill Road crash
Jul. 26—The driver accused of hitting and killing a cyclist on Lee Hill Road in 2021 is set for trial early next year.
George Laws, 69, pleaded not guilty Friday in Boulder County Court to careless driving resulting in death, infliction of serious bodily injury to a vulnerable road user and failure to yield right of way.
All three counts are traffic infractions. The careless driving and vulnerable road charges could carry a maximum of one year in jail.
Laws is set for a motions hearing on Nov. 28 and then a one-day jury trial on Jan. 3, according to online court records.
Laws is accused of causing the crash that killed Alejandro Acosta, 39, of Boulder.
Colorado State Patrol investigators said Acosta was biking east on Lee Hill Road at 6:20 p.m. July 15, 2021, while Laws was driving west.
Investigators said it appears Laws tried to make a left turn onto Wagon Wheel Gap Road in front of Acosta, and Acosta hit the vehicle and was thrown from the bike.
Speed and intoxication were not factors in the crash, but prosecutors determined Laws "drove without due regard for the road and his surroundings, thereby causing Mr. Acosta's death."
