Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Drunken driver gets maximum sentence in death of bicyclist

When Melanie Holt saw flashing lights and police officers gathered on a normally quiet residential street in northwest Las Vegas just five blocks from her apartment, she knew something was wrong.

There was something familiar about the two bicycles that lay inches away from the yellow blanket that covered a body. And she now realizes that other familiar items were strewn around the area.

"I saw the Nike tennis shoes that had fallen off his feet," she said, crying. "But you always hope that it's not you."

She rushed inside her apartment and called her brother, Chris Holt, who lived nearby, to ask him if he knew what happened. He did not answer his phone.

It wasn't until her sister-in-law called, choking back tears moments later, that Melanie Holt realized that the body under the blanket was her brother's.

On Thursday, Melanie Holt asked a judge to make sure Michael Krivak, the repeat DUI offender who was driving drunk when he hit and killed 44-year-old Chris Holt, would never have the opportunity to hurt anyone else.

"I believe alcohol will be a part of his life perhaps for the rest of his life," she said, moments before Krivak was to be sentenced. "He may not be able to be rehabilitated."

District Judge Joseph Bonaventure sentenced Krivak to 35 years in prison for the April 15 collision, which also injured Holt's 8-year-old son, Chance. He will be eligible for parole after 14 years.

Krivak, 40, was also ordered to pay $6,449.30 in restitution.

The sentence was the maximum sentence possible.

Holt and Chance had been riding their bikes in the bicycle lane on Torrey Pines Drive near Ursus Drive when Krivak careened into them. Police say Krivak carried Holt on his hood for more than a mile as he tried to flee.

Krivak had pleaded guilty to one count of DUI causing death and two counts of leaving the scene of an accident as the result of a plea agreement. In exchange, prosecutors dropped four additional counts, which included another DUI charge and a manslaughter charge.

Before the sentence was handed down, Krivak read a letter to Holt's family members, who packed the rows of the courtroom. Krivak apologized for his actions.

"If I could trade my life for the one lost I would do so," he said. "I spend my life in regret and sorrow."

Krivak said he had blacked out at the time of the crash and didn't remember much of the collision.

He said he felt especially sorry for Chance Holt, now 9, who sat in the courtroom next to his mother and his 15-month-old brother, Cheyne.

"His father is gone because I drank so much and decided to drive," Krivak said.

Krivak's attorney, Christopher Oram, urged Bonaventure to put Krivak's crime into perspective with other crimes. Unlike most defendants, he said, Krivak did not intend to kill Holt.

"It may have been reckless disregard for human life," he said. "It wasn't intentional."

But prosecutors say Krivak embodied the worst in DUI offenders -- he had at least 13 prior DUI arrests and three prior DUI convictions in various states and was on parole out of New Mexico when Holt was killed.

And Krivak's blood-alcohol level was 0.33, more than three times the legal limit, when he hit Holt, Booker said. The legal limit is 0.10, but a new state law lowering the limit to 0.08 goes into effect Tuesday.

Bonaventure appeared astonished that Krivak was able to drive at all, considering his level of intoxication.

"I've been a judge a long time, and I don't think I've ever seen a 0.33," he said.

Oram said Krivak has a severe drinking problem and has tried to get treatment before but failed. He was sent to a 28-day alcohol treatment program after one conviction in New Mexico, Oram said.

"Mr. Krivak obviously is sick," he said. "He can't seem to stop drinking alcohol."

But Holt's family members who testified Thursday said Krivak's sickness was no excuse for his actions.

Holt's wife, Susan, said her husband, who owned a commercial cleaning business, was an excellent father who loved to play basketball and go snowboarding with Chance. He looked forward to doing the same things with Cheyne, she said.

She said she had three miscarriages after she gave birth to Chance. Chris was elated when their second son was born, she said.

"Now all Chance has are memories to hold on to," she said. "And Cheyne never had a chance to know his dad at all."

Susan Holt read aloud a short letter Chance had written to the court. Family members said the boy refuses to talk about the day his father was killed.

"My dad was the best dad a boy could ever have," Chance wrote. "I feel very sad for Cheyne because he'll never have a great dad like Chris."

Authorities say Krivak, who was driving a pickup truck, failed to stop at a red light on Torrey Pines Drive and Lake Mead Boulevard and rear-ended a 1996 Chevrolet minivan. The driver in that collision was not hurt.

Clark County prosecutor Gary Booker said Holt either saw or heard Krivak's truck before it came barreling down the street. He told Chance to veer right and move closer to the sidewalk.

"Chris told his son, 'Get over, son," Booker said. "Good thing he did."

The truck was going 45 to 55 mph when it hit the cyclists. Krivak then drove more than a mile with Holt embedded in the truck's windshield before he got out of the car and pushed Holt off the hood, Booker said.

Krivak had a passenger in the car when the accident occurred, but that passenger had passed out, Booker said. When the man awoke and realized what had happened, he jumped out of the car and Krivak drove off, Booker said.

Krivak also caused a series of less serious traffic accident as he tried to drive away through the residential area.

Krivak had driven about 10 miles from where he hit the first car when his truck stalled and people who witnessed the collisions pulled him out of the truck and tackled him.

Melanie Holt said Krivak had passed through at least five school zones during his 10-mile rampage.

If schools had not been out on spring break at the time of the collision, "there would have been children littering the road," she said.

Holt's stepbrother, Greg Pa, said he grew up with Holt in Hawaii and recently moved from the Bay Area to Las Vegas to be closer to Holt and his family.

Pa said the horrific details of the collision showed that Krivak is "inhumane."

"Any decent person would stop if he hit a bird or a dog and render aid," he said. "But he threw him off the hood. That's what I can't forgive."

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