Driver gets 8-year sentence in cyclist's death

A Colorado Springs driver accused of leaving a bicyclist to die after hitting him from behind and fleeing into the night last June admitted his guilt Monday — while also beating allegations he drove drunk.

Mark L. Doutt, 50, will serve an eight-year sentence after pleading guilty to leaving the scene of a crash involving a death in the June 25 hit-and-run death of William Byas Jr. on the city’s east side.

Fourth Judicial District Judge Thomas K. Kane will impose the sentence Feb. 27. Under terms of the plea agreement, Doutt will also serve a mandatory five years parole upon his release.

According to police, the 44-year-old victim was pedaling home from his job at Popeyes, a fast-food chain restaurant, when he was struck from the rear at South Circle and Verde drives and thrown from his Trek bicycle.

Byas, a father and a military veteran, died on the scene, authorities said.

Colorado Springs police detectives suspected Doutt, who has two previous convictions for drunken driving, was intoxicated at the time but would have had trouble proving it at trial, said lead prosecutor Beth Reed.

“If we don’t get a blood-alcohol content or some sort of objective measure of intoxication within a couple hours … it makes it very difficult to prove that he was under the influence,” she said.

Doutt was arrested around noon at a home in the 700 block of Squire Street in Widefield after police received several tips about suspicious behavior, such as replacing a windshield on his 1988 Buick.

People who were with Doutt that night gave conflicting accounts about how much alcohol he consumed before getting behind the wheel, Reed told the court.

In exchange for his guilty plea, prosecutors agreed to drop charges of vehicular homicide and tampering with evidence. The tampering charge relates to allegations that Doutt tried to conceal damage to his vehicle.

With a handful of supporters sitting in the gallery, Doutt briefly addressed the court, telling Kane he had consumed just one alcoholic beverage before driving home from a family member’s birthday party. He said he felt the impact of hitting Byars but assumed he had hit an animal.

His attorney, public defender Dennis McGuire, added that Doutt had drifted off behind the wheel and was awakened by the crash.

Doutt, who was taken into custody at the end of the court hearing, will begin serving his sentence at the El Paso County jail. McGuire said Doutt wanted to begin making his “atonements.”

Byas held two jobs and biked to both, making sure his bike was properly lit and taking the same route home after every shift, a former coworker told The Gazette after the crash.

“He’d do anything for anybody,” said Richard Jones, an assistant manager at the fast-food restaurant, said at the time. “If anyone needed anything, he was there for them.”

Doutt was arrested for DUI in El Paso County in September 1987 and in Teller County in May 2006. In each case, he pleaded guilty to driving while ability impaired.