The courts are rarely hard on drivers who kill cyclists. Their attitude is that cyclists shouldn't be on the road, even though they have a legal right to it. In this case the victim was riding in a marked bike lane.
BTW, the man who was killed was an avid forum poster. If anybody's interested, here's a
thread discussing his death.
And while you're there, check out the number of 'cyclist killed' threads in the 'Safety and Advocacy' forum.
Cars don't kill cyclists. [censored] drivers do.