UPATE: On Thursday afternoon, Jurors sentenced Margaret Mayer to 15 years in prison Thursday for failing to stop and render aid after fatally injuring a bicyclist with her truck.
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Jurors convicted a Houston woman in the high-profile hit-and-run death of a cyclist last December.
Margaret Mayer, 35, was convicted of failure to stop and render aid after her car hit Chelsea Norman, 24, while she cycled on Waugh Drive, traveling from her home to her job at the Montrose Whole Foods, around 10:20 p.m. on Dec. 1, 2013. Norman died four days later at Memorial Hermann from injuries she suffered in the crash. Her death led to outrage from Houston's burgeoning bike community and a push to create safer road conditions for cyclists.
Jurors deliberated for a bit more than an hour before convicting Mayer of the crime.
"It's up to the society here, these jurors here, to figure out what my daughter's life is worth when it comes to somebody's inconvenience for the next two to 20 years."
At the last day of the trial on Wednesday, jurors saw Norman's crumpled bicycle and heard closing statements from the prosecution and defense. Prosecutors said Mayer attempted to fix her truck following the accident, which damaged her vehicle, and covered up evidence. The defense said that the paint chips found on Norman's bike did not match with Mayer's truck.
Mayer is facing up to 20 years in prison for the charge. Now, the jury is in the midst of deciding her punishment.
"I don't care what the sentence length is," Norman's father, Randy Norman, tells KTRK Ch. 11. "But take a look at it this way: We're talking about ending a human life, it happens to be my daughter; but it's up to the society here, these jurors here, to figure out what my daughter's life is worth when it comes to somebody's inconvenience for the next two to 20 years."
At this time, prosecutors have not decided how many years they will ask the jury to give Mayer. The sentencing phase of the trial is going on in the court of State District Judge Brad Hart with Norman's relatives already having given emotional testimony.
Norman was found on Waugh lying face up in the bike lane with her bicycle 20 to 30 feet away in the opposite lane.
Margaret Mayer, found guilty of failure to stop and render aid after striking bicyclist Chelsea Norman, who eventually died.
