Driver Is Sentenced In Death Of Bicyclist

A Wallingford man has been sentenced to 4 1/2 years in prison for causing an alcohol-related traffic accident that killed a Ballard-area bicyclist.

A King County Superior Court jury had convicted Carlos Cortes, 28, of vehicular homicide and felony hit-and-run in the Jan. 17 death of Nora Folkenflik, also 28.

Prosecutors said Cortes, a boat repairman, had been to a party that night and had a blood-alcohol level of 0.20 percent, twice the state's legal limit of 0.10 percent. He was also on probation for a 1993 drunken-driving conviction.

A witness saw a car speed north on Westlake Avenue North and smash into Folkenflik, who was riding her bicycle in the same direction and along the shoulder of the road near Lake Union.

Folkenflik died at the scene from multiple injuries suffered in the 10:30 p.m. accident. The witness said she was clearly visible beneath street lamps when she was struck. The car did not stop for another half-mile.

Folkenflik's boyfriend told Superior Court Judge Donald Haley at yesterday's hearing that Folkenflik was an exceptional person active in a number of social causes. "How stupid, how senseless, how wrong," he said of her death.

Before he was sentenced, Cortes repeatedly asked the victim's family and friends to forgive him.

"I am not a bad person; I am not a criminal," he said. "This wasn't intentional. It was an accident. I hope you can forgive me."

Haley sentenced Cortes to the maximum prison term, saying that the only remorse he showed seemed to be for his own plight.

"You have been convicted of committing these acts so you are a criminal," Haley said.