Bonners Ferry Local Guide including all of Boundary County Idaho

Jury convicts driver in deadly highway crash

Saturday, February 17, 2007; DB

A Clark Fork man was convicted Thursday of causing a collision which claimed the life of a motorcyclist last fall. A jury of five women and one man found Oly Lee Morris guilty of misdemeanor vehicular manslaughter after about an hour of deliberation. A sentencing hearing is pending. Morris faces up to a year in jail and up to $2,000 in fines. He could also be ordered to pay child support to Daniel Patrick Krmpotich's underage kids and lose his driving privileges. Krmpotich, a 52-year-old from Bonners Ferry, died of severe chest injuries and blunt force trauma in the Sept. 27, 2006, crash on Highway 200 just west of Clark Fork. Morris was westbound when he began to turn across the eastbound lane to enter Evergreen Supply's parking lot. Morris tried to swerve back into his own lane when he discovered Krmpotich was bearing down in the eastbound lane, according to witnesses and Idaho State Police. Morris' Mitsubishi came to a stop, but the car still partially blocked the lane Krmpotich was in. Krmpotich laid the bike on its side before colliding with the stopped car. - Full Story