CANTON -- The man who has admitted striking and killing a bicyclist on a snowy Canton road late last December has pled guilty to first-degree vehicular manslaughter and is to be sentenced to 12 years in prison.

Daniel W. Lester, 28, of Rensselaer Falls, was apprehended by state police after he fled the scene of the nighttime accident on County Rt. 27.

His 2011 Toyota Corolla had struck popular Canton restaurant owner Richard F. Morrow, 69, of Canton, as Morrow bicycled home from his restaurant The Meadows. Morrow was pronounced dead at the scene.

Lester was initially charged with second-degree vehicular manslaughter, second-degree vehicular assault, first-degree unlicensed operation, leaving the scene of a fatal motor vehicle accident, and driving while ability impaired by drugs with prior convictions, troopers said.

St. Lawrence County District Attorney Mary Rain said the investigation of the accident revealed that Lester “was impaired by the use of the drugs Carisoprodol and Meprobamate at the time he struck Mr. Morrow with his vehicle.

“Mr. Morrow's tragic death was the direct result of driving while impaired by drugs and therefore avoidable. This office sought a plea to the highest count with a sentence of 12 years in state prison, nearing the maximum. I am pleased that Judge Richards agreed to impose the sentence,” Rain said.

The press release from Rain said actual sentencing is set for July 7 at 8:15 a.m.