KALKASKA -- Fred Schaafsma often wears a black arm band as he cycles along the region's roads, a somber reminder of cyclists who died in traffic crashes.
A Kalkaska County jury recently found Stephen Ciarkowski, the driver who struck and killed Williamsburg resident and cyclist Carl Ray in July 2008, guilty of negligent homicide. The conviction is a relief, Schaafsma said, but it can only do so much.
"The fact that justice was served will never bring Carl Ray back; I'll never be able to ride with him again," said Schaafsma, an avid cyclist who serves as safety and education director for the Cherry Capital Cycling Club.
A jury found Ciarkowski, of Rapid City, guilty of negligent homicide, but not guilty of operating under the influence of drugs causing death, Kalkaska County Prosecutor Brian Donnelly said.
Donnelly said blood tests allegedly showed Ciarkowski was under the influence of methamphetamine at the time.
There are defined legal standards for how alcohol affects a person's system, but the thresholds for intoxication are less clear with drugs, Donnelly said. Jurors may not have been comfortable convicting Ciarkowski of the drug charge.
"With any type of case that involves drugs, it's always a little bit confusing for the jury," he said. "It's a little bit more abstract."
But jurors still made the most important decision, Donnelly said.
"The jury clearly considers him responsible for killing the guy," Donnelly said. "As jurors, they did their job."
Ray, 62, was an Elk Rapids High School graduate who worked as a U.S. Postal Service mail carrier in and around Fife Lake. His twin brother, Charlie Ray, is upset Ciarkowski wasn't convicted of the drug charge.
Charlie Ray believes defense attorneys confused the jury about the alleged drugs in Ciarkowski's system.
"I'd like to see him convicted of more than what he was found guilty of," he said.
Ciarkowski attorney Gerald Chefalo said a second blood test conducted independently by the defense showed a drastically lower level of drugs in Ciarkowski's system than the initial, state police-administered test did. There was no explanation for the difference, Chefalo said.
"They believed in their test results, we believed in ours," he said.
The drug charge was "very reasonable," if one relied on the state police test alone, Chefalo said, but he believes the jury made the right decision.
"I do feel good about what the jury did, because it was difficult information for them to digest," he said. "In the end, I think it was a fair resolution."
Schaafsma hopes the tragedy will serve as another lesson about bicycle safety.
"We still don't seem to be able to get along on the highway, motorists and cyclists," he said. "And there are bad actors on both sides."
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