Idaho man, 19, given community service after pleading guilty to killing child with car
A Boise man was ordered to perform community service and will have his driving privileges suspended for five years after pleading guilty to hitting a boy with his pickup and killing the child in 2019.
Conner Brant, 19, was ordered Tuesday to serve a 64-day jail sentence in the form of community service after he pleaded guilty to one count of misdemeanor vehicular manslaughter.
In July 2019, Brant was driving on Amity Road when his pickup veered over the fog line and hit Eduard Prokopchuk, a 7-year-old who was riding his bicycle with friends.
Brant was first charged with a misdemeanor before prosecutors upgraded the charge to a felony after learning that he was using his phone when he hit the child. However, during a preliminary hearing in February, an Ada County judge ruled that prosecutors did not show that Brant had exemplified the “gross negligence” standard needed to justify the felony charge. Thus, that charge was dismissed.
In May, prosecutors refiled the vehicular manslaughter charge as a misdemeanor, according to online court records.
Brant initially pleaded not guilty to the charge in June. On Tuesday, he pleaded guilty and was sentenced shortly after.
Ada County Magistrate Judge Daniel Steckel sentenced Brant to 365 days in jail, but suspended 300 days. Brant was also given credit for the one day previously served, leaving 64 days, which will be served as community service.
Brant also will have his driver’s license suspended for five years, and he will begin two years of unsupervised probation once he completes his term. He also will need to complete two courses on safe driving.
Steckel gave Brant a withheld judgment, meaning Brant may petition for the dismissal of his case if he successfully completes all the terms of his sentence, according to a news release from the Ada County Prosecutor’s Office.
“I want to extend my condolences to the victim’s family and thank the Ada County Sheriff’s Office for their hard work investigating this case,” said Ada County Prosecutor Jan Bennetts in the release.
As of Wednesday afternoon, Brant was not in custody, according to Ada County Jail records.
