Swiss court sentences fugitive to 5 years for killing pedestrian in Yverdon

A 23-year-old man was sentenced Wednesday to five years in prison and a 10-year expulsion order by the Criminal Court for negligent homicide, after fatally striking a pedestrian on a crosswalk in Yverdon in 2023. The court did not uphold murder charges due to restrictive Federal Court jurisprudence, which reserves that classification for police chases and blind-corner overtaking. At the time, the defendant was on the run after escaping a juvenile prison in Valais, where he had been convicted of attempted murder. He was not speeding but had been awake for 24 hours, was intoxicated and under the influence of cannabis. His car was unregistered and uninsured, and he did not hold a driver's license.