Motorist guilty of driving with suspended license after she opened car door, fatally injuring bicyclist

Motorist guilty of driving with suspended license after she opened car door, fatally injuring bicyclist

Motorist guilty of driving with suspended license after she opened car door, fatally injuring bicyclist - A woman who carelessly opened her parked car's door, hurling a cyclist onto an oncoming bus, was found guilty Tuesday of a minor charge of driving with a suspended license.

That count was all Krystal Francis, 25, was facing for the accident that killed Jasmine Herron, 23, on September 2010. She can be sentenced to a maximum of a month in jail or a $500 fine, which is the more likely punishment, sources said.

Even though no witness saw Francis behind the wheel, "There is no other reasonable view of the incident," prosecutor Nora Cronin told jurors in Brooklyn Supreme Court.

The defense claimed there was no proof Francis drove the car or that she received notices about not answering a traffic ticket and the subsequent suspension.

The proceedings played out over almost a week in Brooklyn's highest trial court because the Staten Island mom was initially charged with a felony of leaving the scene but that count was later dismissed.

"I feel vindicated the jury found her guilty," Herron's mother Wendy Clouse said from her Colorado home. "But it won't bring my daughter back."