BOULDER COUNTY, Colo. On Friday morning, the testimony concluded from the 24-year-old defendant accused of driving recklessly when she hit and killed a 17-year-old cyclist near Boulder in 2023. The defense has one more witness to call up in this trial. The defense for Yeva Smilianska, 24, said they do not dispute that she struck and killed 17-year-old Magnus White, but rather they are arguing that she did not drive in a reckless manner, which is the charge she is facing. Because of this, Denver7 is not using the word "allegedly" when specifically discussing Smilianska striking Magnus. Just about to start his senior year in high school, Magnus, a young and accomplished cyclist, headed out on the afternoon of July 29, 2023 for a training ride for the Junior Mountain Bike World Championships in Scotland. As he neared Highway 119 and N. 63rd Street in unincorporated Boulder County, he was struck from behind by a driver. He died of his injuries. The investigation continued for about 20 weeks before the driver, identified as Yeva Smilianska, then 23, was arrested in December 2023. She is a refugee from Ukraine and fled to the United States to escape the war. Investigators wrote in an affidavit that they believe she fell asleep at the wheel when she struck the young bicyclist. She faces a charge of reckless vehicular homicide, which is a class 4 felony. In May 2024, the White family filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Smilianska. The family also started a nonprofit called The White Line, which advocates for safer roads and tougher penalties for careless or reckless driving resulting in death, and helps young cyclists compete around the world. Denver7 has been covering this case since the crash, and you can read our coverage since the trial started in the stories below: Day 1: Opening statements, start of testimonies | March 31 Day 2: Testimony from prosecution's witnesses | April 1 Day 3: Testimony from prosecution's witnesses and defense's witnesses | April 2 Day 4: Testimony from the defendant and her friend | April 3 Some viewers may find the below content disturbing. Denver7 will add to this story as the fifth day of the trial progresses. Refresh this story for updates. Defendant continues testimony about crashing into Magnus White Friday morning started where Thursday afternoon left off, with the continued cross-examination of the defendant, Smilianska, by Deputy District Attorney Trish Mittelstadt. The prosecution brought the courtroom back to the morning of the crash, before Smilianska had left her friend Nereida "Neddy" Cooper's home. They had stayed up drinking until about 6 a.m. that morning before falling asleep, per previous testimonies. Cooper woke up around 11 a.m. for work at the bar where both women were employed and left. In her testimony on Thursday, Cooper told the court that she had offered for Smilianska to either stay at her house or come to the bar because Smilianska lived far away.In Smilianska's testimony Friday morning, she denied this, saying there was no offer from Cooper to stay at the home, and that in actuality, the women had left the house at the same time around 11:25 a.m. "I was tired, but I was certain I was able to drive in the condition I was that morning," she told the prosecutor. As she drove, she said she was wearing at least one, but possibly two AirPods in her ears to listen to her iPod. She had mentioned this during her testimony Thursday as well. The prosecutor asked if she started nodding off on Highway 119, which Smilianska confirmed. She said she did not remember swerving twice before hitting Magnus. The prosecutor said that the defendant had testified the day prior about being a light sleeper, yet she did not hear her car hit Magnus. Smilianska said that was true. "And it didn't wake you up when his body smashed into the windshield?" Mittelstadt said. "No, it didn't wake me up," Smilianska replied. "And it didn't wake you up when your car continued to drive in that tall grass for 295 feet?" Mittelstadt questioned. "It did not wake me up," Smilianska replied. Smilianska said she woke up when the car hit the fence. As she had testified the day prior, Smilianska said she had told another cyclist at the scene that she thought she had passed out, but told law enforcement that she thought her car's steering had malfunctioned. She reiterated the latter in a statement taken at the scene. She admitted in court Friday that she had been untruthful in that instance. Mittelstadt brought up pictures on a slideshow in the courtroom. One showed Smilianska at the crash scene. Another is a screenshot from her and Cooper singing karaoke and drinking before they had gone to sleep earlier that morning. In both pictures, she was holding a black tumbler. Smilianska had been permitted to grab items from her car after the crash, which included the tumbler. Mittelstadt confirmed that she had been drinking alcohol out of that same tumbler earlier that morning. Lastly, Smilianska said she was indeed familiar with that stretch of highway and knew cyclists frequented it. In a re-direct, defense attorney Timur Kishinevsky asked if she normally worked the night shift at 3's Bar in Longmont, which she agreed was typical. She would usually get back home around 3 a.m. or 4 a.m., so she is accustomed to going to bed at those odd times. Kishinevsky brought up the same two photos that the prosecution had shown about 20 minutes earlier. Smilianska said the items she grabbed from her car at the crash site, including the black tumbler, were likely in the backseat of the trunk of the car, but she could not remember. When questioned further about this, she said she thought the tumbler had been on the side door, but she had not been drinking from it. To her recollection, she said it did not have anything in it at the time. "I was in a stupor, I didn't understand what was going on around me, and I was shut off, just like you said," Smilianska said of being at the crash scene. The translator said Smilianska had used a different term than "stupor," but there was no good English translation for it. The defense attorney asked a few quick questions: Is falling asleep something she can control? Is a car malfunction something she can control? She said no to both. "Was it simply hard for you to accept that something you could control caused a life to be taken?" Kishinevsky asked. "I can't even describe how hard," Smilianska replied.This concluded her testimony. The court then broke for a recess, and would return with the defense's final witness after the break. Crash reconstruction expert testifies about drowsiness behind the wheelThe defense's fourth and final witness was Jason Chilson, an expert in crash reconstruction who became a police officer in Aurora after he left the military. He left the police department in 2018. He said he has reviewed the investigation in its entirety, from written discovery to witness statements to the photographs. The defense asked if it was significant in his review that six law enforcement officers who responded to the July 29, 2023 crash all came to the same conclusion that Smilianska was not impaired at the time. He agreed that they had all come to that conclusion, adding that they did not see enough signs to even ask for a roadside examination. Chilson told the court that he does not believe this is a reckless driving case, but rather that it is a careless driving case, which is a lesser charge. This opinion lines up with previous testimony from Colorado State Patrol Trooper Sean McCall (from the second and third day of the trial) and Michael Stogsdill, an expert witness in crash reconstruction (from the third day of the trial). During a cross-examination with Boulder County District Attorney Michael Dougherty, Chilson testified that he believes law enforcement conducted a good, thorough investigation, but stopped short of saying there was nothing missing from the on-scene response. You can always nit-pick, he added. He said he agrees that Smilianska caused Magnus' death, and that she had been driving while tired. Chilson said this is "similar to half the country," which prompted the district attorney to ask if everybody should be aware that half of the country is passing out behind the wheel after they leave the courtroom that day. Chilson slightly backtracked, saying "not completely passed out behind the wheel," but that people drive tired all of the time and that it was the "nature" of our lives. In the courtroom, Michael White, Magnus' father, shook his head at this. When discussing the charge against Smilianska reckless vehicular homicide Chilson said that "recklessness" involves a conscious decision, and if a person is unconscious, they cannot make a decision. Dougherty argued that reckless driving can start the moment somebody puts their key in the ignition, which Chilson agreed with. Dougherty asked Chilson what he made of the video of Smilianska and her friend drinking until 6 a.m., and Chilson responded that he had not seen the video. He testified that after a crash, some drivers are "completely blank," and it is not uncommon for some to emotionally shut down or feel shaken. Dougherty began to try to poke holes in Chilson's credibility, bringing up an instance in 2018, when Chilson was still an officer for the Aurora Police Department, and he was found to have committed conduct "unbecoming" of an officer. Chilson said the charge was dismissed and a lawsuit is coming. The defense picked up there in their re-redirect. Chilson further explained that incident, saying he was a DUI officer when he came across a lieutenant who was drunk and passed out in his car. Police brought the drunk lieutenant to another hospital and said he had the flu, Chilson said, and he got in trouble for this. Moving back to the case, the defense prompted Chilson to explain that the act of weaving once outside a lane is not automatically considered reckless driving, which is more closely associated with intent and a conscious decision. He gave the example of driving 90 mph in a snowstorm on the highway as reckless. The defense then rested their case and the court took its lunch break. Closing arguments are expected to begin later today. Denver7 will add to this story as the fifth day of the trial progresses. Refresh this story for updates. ...read more read less