Canadian trucker pleads guilty in fatal Montana highway accident

A Canadian man pleaded guilty to a careless driving charge stemming from an incident that left one man dead on Interstate-15 south of Great Falls last April.  

Jaraslav Kleberc, whose first name is also spelled in court documents as Jaroslav, on Thursday pleaded guilty to careless driving, a misdemeanor, and no contest to tampering with physical evidence, a felony. As part of the deal he signed last week, prosecutors agreed to drop the third charge, failure to remain at the scene of an accident. 

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In the plea agreement, prosecutors recommended he be sentenced for the careless driving charge to six months in county jail, with credit for time served (Kleberc has been incarcerated since the fatal traffic incident.) For the tampering charge, prosecutors recommended he be sentenced to a 10-year commitment to the Montana Department of Corrections, with all 10 suspended. 

Judge John Kutzman accepted the plea agreement on Feb. 22, more than a week after he stalled Kleberc's change of plea hearing to allow parties to further consider the deal, which amends the initially-filed negligent homicide charge to careless driving. 

Kleberc, a truck driver for the Canadian firm Kings Cargo Express, used an authorized-vehicles-only turnout on I-15 last April, turning into the northbound lane and in the direct path of Marvin Knutson. Knutson's vehicle collided with Kleberc's truck trailer. Knutson was declared dead at the scene. 

Kleberc had used the turn to reroute from I-15 over to Highway 89, where he headed south and eventually arrived in Katy, Texas, with his scheduled load of lumber. Along the way, court documents state he asked some farmers in Hardin to help shift his load. They noticed a red paint transfer and damages to the side of the trailer, the farmers told authorities. When they asked Kleberc about it, he reportedly replied "hit a deer."

At the initial change of plea hearing on Feb. 13, County Attorney Josh Racki said he had the victim's family's approval of the plea deal. Racki said the turn that killed Knutson was not deliberate. Racki did not say whether or not information collected in the case indicated that Kleberc could have actually not noticed the crash as he turned northbound and continued on I-15 back to Great Falls. 

Kleberc has maintained that he was not aware of the crash when it occurred.

Knutson's family is also taking Kleberc and his employer to civil court for damages not specified in court records. That case is pending the final outcome of the criminal case at hand.