BOSTON, Oct. 16, 2014—A Suffolk Superior Court jury today convicted a drunk driver in the 2012 death of Doan Bui in Dorchester, District Attorney Daniel F. Conley said.

Jurors convicted MICHAEL AHERN (D.O.B. 12/23/65) of felony motor vehicle homicide for the Sept. 14, 2012, collision that killed Bui, 63, as Bui rode his bicycle home from a late night fishing trip. In reaching that verdict, jurors found that Ahern was impaired and negligent when he struck and killed Bui, rejecting the opportunity to convict the defendant of the lesser offense of misdemeanor motor vehicle homicide or find him guilty of driving drunk but not guilty of causing Bui’s death.

“Doan Bui’s only crime was to ride his bicycle home from a night of fishing,” Conley said. “His death devastated his family and left them without his love, devotion, and support. This case was important to us because they are people of humble means, immigrants with no connections and no one else to speak up for them. Mr. Bui’s death was a crime and the defendant had to be held accountable for it.”

The verdict came after about a week of trial and close to one full day of deliberations. After it was read, Assistant District Attorney Gregory Henning of the DA’s Major Felony Bureau asked that Ahern’s $25,000 bail be revoked pending sentencing; Judge Christopher Muse denied that request, but granted Henning’s motion that Ahern be ordered to surrender his passport.

Evidence at trial proved that Bui was riding his bicycle in the right hand travel lane of Morrissey Boulevard, a three-lane southbound parkway near Malibu Beach. At about 12:25 a.m., the evidence showed, Ahern was travelling the same stretch of roadway and struck Bui with such force that his body was thrown more than 150 feet from the point of impact. State Police collision reconstruction experts opined that Ahern was travelling at 51 miles per hour in a 30 mile per hour zone.

Evidence also proved that State Police responding to Ahern’s 911 call detected a strong odor of alcohol on his breath, found him to be unsteady on his feet, and observed his eyes to be bloodshot and glassy. Troopers testified that he slurred his speech and claimed to be unaware that he had hit anyone. When asked if he had been drinking, he said he “may have had one” drink at the Slate Bar and Grill, in which he had an ownership interest.

Ahern was transported to Boston Medical Center, where he was treated for cuts and bruises. Though the judge ruled it inadmissible at trial, Ahern refused to let physicians there draw blood, which could have shown that he was bleeding internally but which also would have shown that he was impaired. The judge also ruled that jurors would not hear Ahern left the hospital that morning against medical advice. Jurors did hear that Ahern had been at the Sel de Terre restaurant earlier in the day, and had been drinking at Slate for more than 2 hours before the crash. Video recovered from Slate showed Ahern consuming alcohol and captured him getting into his truck after leaving the bar.

Ahern, who has two 1989 convictions for arson out of Suffolk Superior Court, faces at least one year behind bars and a 15-year revocation of his driver’s license when he is sentenced at 2:00 p.m. on Oct. 31. He was represented by attorney Daniel O’Malley.

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All defendants are presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.