In the criminal justice system, killing a person is usually a serious felony, carrying the gravest penalty.

But in select cases, taking a life can be a misdemeanor, a lesser offense that results in fines and no jail time.

Last week, a Sabre Springs man who hit and killed a Rancho Bernardo bicyclist was sentenced to probation and community service after pleading no contest to charges of misdemeanor manslaughter and driving in the bicycle lane.

In a separate case, a second North County motorist has been charged with misdemeanor manslaughter for hitting a 37-year-old cyclist who was riding on the right shoulder in Valley Center last summer.

Misdemeanor manslaughter is the charge allowed under California law when a motorist hits a cyclist because of carelessness or inattention. The charge carries a maximum of a year in jail and up to $1,000 fines.

But some bicyclists say the charge is too light for the crime: It deprives victims' families of justice and does little to remind motorists of their duty to share the road.

"When you're out there behind the wheel, you have a responsibility to make sure you don't hit and kill anyone," said Rancho Bernardo cyclist Kathy Keehan, who is executive director of the San Diego Bicycle Coalition. "People will get off with a license suspension, and we feel like that's a pretty small price to pay for taking someone's life."

Often, Keehan said, no criminal charges are filed at all when a car hits a bicycle.

"Sometimes, bike and car crashes are still just considered accidents, like somehow it's an act of God that your car happened to be in the same place as the bike at any moment in time," she said.

'Not gross negligence'

It's not clear why Arthur Newman, 56, was driving his BMW in the bike lane on Jan. 9, 2009, when he hit Walter Joller, 55, on Sabre Springs Parkway early in the evening. The retired Navy captain commuted 55 miles round trip on his bicycle most days to his job in San Diego.

The driver, who stopped at the scene, told police he never saw the cyclist, who was wearing a reflective vest and flashing lights. Newman had not been drinking, using drugs or speeding, authorities said.

Therefore, Newman was charged with misdemeanor manslaughter for the death, San Diego Assistant City Attorney Andrew Jones said.

"It's obviously not gross negligence," Jones explained. "It's not to the level of being under the influence of alcohol."

It was simple negligence: that is, ordinary carelessness, inattention or a mistake in judgment, he said. Felony vehicular manslaughter is charged when a person acts in an obviously risky way that makes him or her likely to cause injury or death.

A San Diego Superior Court judge sentenced Newman to three years' probation and fined him $700. He was given 120 days in custody, but that was suspended as long as he doesn't violate his probation.

Newman also was ordered to perform 100 hours of volunteer work service and 20 days of public work service. No actions were taken against his driver's license.

Jones said he believed Joller's family was satisfied with the outcome.

The family could not be reached for this story. Newman's attorney, Sarah Marshall, said her client felt deep remorse for Joller's death.

'How can you not see him?'

The family members of a second North County cyclist who died after being hit by a vehicle aren't sure what justice would look like.

Diana Ruiz of Valley Center said she and her family are angry and devastated that a driver hit and killed her brother, Angel Galvez, 37, on July 21, 2009, as he bicycled on Cole Grade Road to the library where he volunteered each day.

"The man said he didn't see him, but how can you not see him on a straight road?" Ruiz said.

An investigation showed that Gregory Pile, 50, of Valley Center, was driving a large Ford work truck about 45 mph when he drifted into Galvez, who was riding to the right, California Highway Patrol Officer Eric Newbury said.

Witnesses saw the truck make a sudden motion to the left. Pile said he did not see the cyclist until the last moment, Newbury said.

Ruiz said her mother was shattered by the death of her second son, just four years after his older brother was killed when a SUV hit him while he rode his dirt bike on a rural road between Valley Center and Pauma Valley.

However, Ruiz said both she and her mother struggle with what they would like to see from the criminal justice system. On the one hand, they are angry. On the other, they know Pile lives with a pain they can't imagine.

And nothing will bring Angel back.

Pile's attorney, Gregory Wolfe, said his client was remorseful. However, Wolfe said the crash was an accident, and he questioned whether criminal penalties were appropriate.

"I have not seen one scintilla of evidence to show my guy was acting recklessly," he said.

Cyclist-car deaths rare

Cyclist deaths resulting from collisions with cars are relatively rare. In 2008, the last year for which statistics are available, of 322 deaths involving cars, only three of them were bicycle vs. vehicle collisions, according to the county medical examiner's office.

Jim Baross, San Diego-based president of the California Association of Bicycling Organizations, said there have been pushes in various states for tougher penalties for striking and killing cyclists, but he thinks it may be too difficult to tailor laws that would fit every case.

Baross said bicycle collisions are part of a greater problem. Some motorists still need to be convinced that cyclists have a right to be on the road. The underlying issue seems to be increasingly distracted drivers. Perhaps that's what legislation should target, he said.

"I think motorists overall need something to deter us from shaving, texting, talking on our cell phones," Baross said. "We need to return some feeling of responsibility to drivers."

Call staff writer Sarah Gordon at 760-740-3517.