SAN DIEGO — A convicted man will spend more than a decade behind bars for his role in a DUI crash that killed a San Diego State University architect while she was riding her bike to work.
Adam Milavetz, who was under the influence of drugs when he killed her in July 2021, learned on Monday that he will serve 13 years for two felony and several misdemeanor crimes.
Laura Shinn was 57 years old when she was killed and was an architect and director of facilities planning at San Diego State University.
Her husband, Steve Shinn, said they had been together for 40 years and married for 34 years. He gave an emotional victim impact statement inside the courtroom.
“As architects we were joined at the hip and did everything together, losing her was like losing half of my body and soul,” Steve Shinn said. “Eighteen months ago my wife Laura was suddenly taken from me, cycling to work, one bright sunny morning, by a driver who willfully took illegal drugs. I never got to say goodbye to Laura. I never got to say I love you one last time. I never got to hold her hand one last time either.”
Laura was riding her bike to work on Pershing Drive near Balboa Park when Milavetz hit and killed her.
Milavetz had been under the influence of methamphetamine and fentanyl. He had thrown a bag over a fence after he hit Shinn, which police later found had drugs inside.
“Laura lost the last third of her life, her sentence was permanent,” Shinn said.
As Milavetz learned his sentence Monday, crews were simultaneously working on SANDAG’s Pershing Bikeway Project, which has a goal of making roads through Balboa Park more convenient for bikers, with buffered bike lanes and a two-way separated bikeway.
Steve said Laura promoted cycling and biking or taking public transit to work during her entire professional career.
Steve is suing the City of San Diego and SANDAG for unsafe conditions on Pershing Drive.
Milavetz will spend three years in county jail and then serve the rest of his sentence in prison.
Millavetz’s parents were also in the courtroom Monday.
The Deputy District Attorney said Millavetz’s parents donated $50,000 to an architecture scholarship in Laura’s name.