Coban Porter Faces the Consequences: Six Years in Prison for Fatal DUI Crash

The younger brother of Denver Nuggets star Michael Porter Jr., Coban Porter, a former basketball player for the University of Denver, was sentenced to six years in jail on Friday for the death of a 42-year-old woman in a drunk driving accident that occurred last year.

Judge Ericka Englert of Denver District Court advised Porter to “do everything you can to use this occasion to educate others” about the risks associated with driving under the influence.

“All I can really say is, ‘I’m sorry,’” Porter said in court. “I hope that somehow, someway I’ll be able to make a difference.”

Porter said he hoped the victim’s family would find peace as a result of his sentence.

The sentencing came two days after another brother, former Toronto Raptors player Jontay Porter, was banned by the NBA after an investigation found he disclosed confidential information to sports bettors and bet on games in violation of league rules.

After being found guilty of DUI vehicular homicide and vehicular assault in the Jan. 22, 2023 incident that claimed Kathy Rothman’s life, Coban Porter entered a plea. According to relatives, Rothman was driving for Uber at the time of the collision and is the mother of a son who is now five years old.

As a condition of his plea deal, Porter admitted that he was intoxicated when he ran a red light close to the university at two in the morning, killing Rothman and gravely hurting her 47-year-old passenger, Jason Branch.

Porter, who was 21 years old at the time of the collision, was not traveling with the university basketball team and was healing from a knee injury. As a freshman in 2021–22, the 6-foot–4 guard started eight games for the Pioneers.

Porter could have received a sentence of up to eight years in prison under the terms of the deal, but the judge gave him penalties of six years on one count and two years on the other, with the terms running concurrently.

National Basketball Association