Coban Porter, the brother of Denver Nuggets star Michael Porter Jr., was sentenced to 6 years in jail Friday for killing a lady in a drunk-driving crash final 12 months.
Porter, 22, pleaded responsible to vehicular murder and vehicular assault in February on the situation that he can be sentenced to not more than eight years in jail. He might have confronted as much as 12 years in jail with out the plea settlement.
“All I can actually say is that I’m sorry,” Porter mentioned in a Denver courtroom Friday. “I do know that I’m by no means going to have the ability to proper that incorrect… I by no means thought I’d be standing right here. I believed I used to be invincible. It wasn’t the primary time I selected to drink and drive… I’m so sorry.”
Porter was driving drunk simply earlier than 2 a.m. on Jan. 22, 2023, when he ran a pink mild and crashed into one other car on the intersection of South College and Buchtel boulevards in Denver. The opposite driver, Kathy Limon Rothman, 42, was killed, and a passenger in her car was severely injured.
Prosecutors on Friday mentioned Porter was driving 50 mph in a 30 mph zone and his blood-alcohol degree was .19, greater than twice the authorized restrict of .08. Rothman, mom to a younger son, was working as an Uber driver on the time.
Connie Johnson, Rothman’s mom, mentioned in courtroom Friday that her life ended within the crash alongside along with her daughter’s.
“This ache and trauma have turn into my worst actuality,” she mentioned. “…Each a part of my life that brings pleasure and happiness is met in tandem with the anguish of her absence. …His selection brought about my grandson to develop up with no mom. Precipitated my son-in-law to be a widower, and brought about my husband and I to lose a baby.”
Many individuals spoke each for Rothman’s household and in assist of Porter throughout the emotional listening to in Denver District Courtroom on Friday. Michael Porter Jr. described how he was the primary in his household to be taught in regards to the deadly crash, when a police officer known as to inform him round 7 a.m. that morning.
“He mentioned, ‘Coban has been in a deadly accident.’ He didn’t specify if Coban was the one who died or if it was another person,” Michael Porter Jr. mentioned, turning to Rothman’s household. “I perceive your loved ones’s ache and harm. When he didn’t specify what it was, I felt that. I do know that if I had been in your sneakers and it was reversed, I might have plenty of emotions as properly.”
He and others described Coban Porter as a person of high quality character, a tough employee filled with regret for his actions.
“I really don’t assume I’d be within the place I’m right this moment as an expert basketball participant with no brother like Coban pushing me each day,” Michael Porter Jr. mentioned. “He would rise up sooner than me, work out more durable than me. I do know it’s not typically {that a} large brother appears to be like as much as a youthful brother, however that’s the way it was for me.”
Prosecutor Austin Leighty requested District Courtroom Decide Erica Englert to offer Porter the utmost eight years in jail on the vehicular murder conviction, and requested for six years on the vehicular assault conviction. He famous that the pink mild Porter ran was pink for at the very least 23 seconds earlier than Porter drove by way of it, and mentioned Porter didn’t take any motion to decelerate till a half-second earlier than the deadly collision.
“This was not an accident,” Leighty mentioned. “This was a sequence of selections that led to a deadly crash. …He drank and he drank. If he would have left his dwelling and gotten a trip, none of us can be right here. However he didn’t. And after he drank and drank and drank, he bought into his automotive to drive.”
Porter later agreed with Leighty that his selections led to the crash.
“He’s proper, it wasn’t an accident,” he mentioned. “I selected to drive there, I selected to drink and I selected to attempt to drive dwelling. I didn’t imply to harm her. I hope you realize that. I do know that doesn’t change something.”
Johnson on Friday mentioned she needed to see justice performed, however didn’t ask for a particular sentence. She and different relations requested Porter to make use of his standing to talk publicly in regards to the risks of drunk driving.
“I don’t want hate upon Mr. Porter,” she mentioned. “He’s a younger man with a vivid future forward of him who made a egocentric and reckless selection.”
Porter has not drunk alcohol or pushed a car for the reason that crash, mentioned Harvey Steinberg, his lawyer. He requested the choose to trend a sentence that required Porter to talk to younger individuals in faculties in regards to the risks of drunk driving, and prompt such a sentence can be higher than “warehousing” him in jail.
Englert declined to take action, however nonetheless inspired Porter to make use of his platform for drunk driving schooling, regardless that she sentenced him to jail.
“You’ve clearly been known as on to make good of this tragedy,” the choose mentioned.
Members of Porter’s household sobbed as he was handcuffed and brought into custody after the sentencing, some telling him they cherished him and one individual calling out that he can be OK.
Rothman’s household and the passenger in her automotive, Jason Blanch, this 12 months sued Porter and the bar the place he drank that night time. The lawsuit alleges workers on the Crimson and Gold Tavern, a sports activities bar that caters to College of Denver college students, overserved Porter that night time. The crash occurred lower than a mile from the bar.
Porter was on the time a scholar and basketball participant at DU; he left the college in early 2023.
Porter’s older brother, 24-year-old Jontay Porter, additionally made headlines this week when he was banned from the NBA after a league investigation discovered he disclosed confidential data to sports activities bettors about his well being, and restricted his personal participation in video games for betting functions.
Signal as much as get crime information despatched straight to your inbox every day.