Having beaten a negligent homicide charge in June after a jury deadlocked on a verdict, a McFarland man instead lost his driver's license for a year for a crash that killed a Madison bicyclist.

Dane County Circuit Judge Patrick Fiedler said Wednesday that he had "no hesitation" about imposing the maximum fine and license suspension for Tracy Sorum, 30, who pleaded no contest to inattentive driving for the crash that killed bicyclist Jessica Bullen, 29, on June 30, 2005.

Sorum had been charged with homicide by negligent driving, but a jury deliberated for 11 hours before it deadlocked on a verdict, causing a mistrial. Last month, Assistant District Attorney John Norsetter informed Fiedler that he would not re-try Sorum on the charge, writing in a letter that the evidence that he presented at a second trial would not be substantially different from what he presented at the first.

Instead, Sorum agreed to plead no contest to an inattentive driving ticket. In addition to the license suspension, Fiedler fined Sorum $400, plus court costs.

Norsetter argued for the maximum penalty not only because of Sorum's long history of traffic violations -- which could not be presented at his trial -- but because of the deadly result of his inattention.

"This is a classic example of how much damage you can do without intending to do so," Norsetter said. "There was no malice, but the results were catastrophic."

Sorum's attorney, Stephen Eisenberg, argued that the license suspension was unnecessary. But Fiedler disagreed, citing in his decision Sorum's two drunken-driving convictions and the fact that somebody died.

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