Deputy pleads guilty in bike-crash deaths SANTA CLARA COUNTY

Photo of Kristy Gough, who was struck and killed on Sunday, March 9, 2008 as she and her cycling team were training in Cupertino, Calif. Gough was one of two cyclists who died in the collision, the other was Matt Peterson. The photo was taken at the Early Bird Criterium in Fremont, Calif., on February 3, 2008. She was in the Category 4 women's race, which she won as part of the Third Pillar Cycling team. Photo by Garrett Lau / Special to The Chronicle less Photo of Kristy Gough, who was struck and killed on Sunday, March 9, 2008 as she and her cycling team were training in Cupertino, Calif. Gough was one of two cyclists who died in the collision, the other was ... more Photo: Garrett Lau, Special To The Chronicle Photo: Garrett Lau, Special To The Chronicle Image 1 of / 7 Caption Close Deputy pleads guilty in bike-crash deaths 1 / 7 Back to Gallery

A Santa Clara County sheriff's deputy pleaded guilty Friday to two misdemeanor counts of vehicular manslaughter for hitting and killing two bicyclists last year when his patrol cruiser crossed the center line.

Deputy James Council, 28, is expected to be sentenced June 25 to four months in county jail in the deaths of Matt Peterson, 29, of San Francisco and Kristy Gough, 30, of San Leandro.

Council will be eligible to serve that time in a sheriff's furlough program or in home detention, authorities said. He will also be required to perform 800 hours of community service, said Deputy District Attorney Ray Mendoza.

The prosecutor said the expected sentence is appropriate "in light of all the circumstances. This is a tragic case for everybody involved."

Peterson's sister Mary echoed that sentiment in an e-mail to The Chronicle.

"The sorrow that I imagine Deputy Council carries is the greatest punishment he will experience," she wrote. "Justice and mercy are meaningless without each other."

The accident happened March 9, 2008, when Council's cruiser crossed the center line on Stevens Canyon Road in Cupertino and struck three cyclists. Peterson died at the scene, and Gough died a short time later at a hospital. The third bicyclist, Christopher Knapp of Germany, was badly injured but survived.

Witnesses later said there were no skid marks and that the deputy reported falling asleep at the wheel.

Council's attorney, Michael Rains, confirmed that the deputy had nodded off. Council, who had been with the department for 18 months, was 4 1/2 hours into a 12-hour shift at the time of the Sunday morning crash after working a 12 1/2-hour shift the day before.

Prosecutors have concluded that Council was not engaged in serious reckless driving and had no drugs or alcohol in his system.

Council was prepared to go to trial Monday on the misdemeanor charges, but he did not want to subject his family or relatives of the victims to "gruesome" photos and difficult testimony, Rains said.

Council remains on administrative leave from the Santa Clara County Sheriff's Office.

The three victims were among about a dozen people riding with Third Pillar, a San Mateo-based bicycle racing team, and Team Roaring Mouse from San Francisco.

Gough was a professional triathlete who had recently taken up road racing and who friends said had won every race she entered in 2008. She and Peterson, an amateur road-racing cyclist who, like Gough, had done triathlons, both won their divisions in a road-racing event in Merced eight days before they died.

Lawsuits against Santa Clara County filed by the families of Peterson and Gough are still pending, and Knapp is still in discussions with the county, said his attorney, James McManis.

"I'm fine with the sentencing," McManis said. "It was an accident, and we shouldn't be putting people in jail for accidents."

The victims' fellow bicyclists recently commemorated the first anniversary of the crash, which sent ripples of shock and sorrow through the tight-knit racing community. Those emotions were reawakened Friday.

"If you had told me the day after this happened that the person who did this would serve a short sentence, I would have been outraged," said David Parrish of San Francisco, president of Team Roaring Mouse, of which Peterson was a member.

"I think now ... I'm inclined toward compassion," Parrish said. "The person left standing here, James Council, the person behind the wheel, has his own personal hell to go through for the rest of his life."

Gough rode with Third Pillar, and team captain Anthony Borba said he was struggling a bit with the end of the case.

"It seems like if a civilian were to fall asleep and kill two people, four months' prison time or whatever doesn't seem like much," he said. "I believe it was an accident. I hope for the sake of the officer that it was an accident."

More important than the sentence, the bicyclists said, is the hope that the case reminds motorists to be aware of riders on the road.

Borba added that he hopes the Santa Clara County Sheriff's Office will reconsider its policies on lengths of shifts.

The office is working with a sleep researcher, said spokesman Sgt. Don Morrissey, seeking to learn more about the effect of sleep patterns on deputies.