JACKSON (AP) -- A Maryland teenager was sentenced to a year in jail, with half of that suspended, for a snowboarding crash in which he killed a skier from Massachusetts.

Greg Doda, 18, of Crownsville, Md., was sentenced this week, about five months after he pleaded guilty to criminally negligent homicide, a misdemeanor.

On Feb. 24, 2004, Doda was snowboarding at Jackson Hole Mountain Resort when he careened into Heather Donahue, 29, of Shrewsbury, Mass. Authorities say their investigation, including reviewing a video of the crash, determined Doda probably was going more than 45 mph when he ran into Donahue, who had stopped to wait for her husband.

Donahue died from head injuries.

Teton County Circuit Judge Timothy Day rejected a request from Donahue's family that Doda be required to spend the full year in prison. However, he said it's important that Doda spend time in jail "to impart upon you in some degree that emptiness that Heather Donahue's family feels every day."

"This nightmare was no mistake," Day said. "It's absolutely clear you were going way too fast, period."

Day also sentenced Doda to a year on probation; about $4,000 in fines, of which $2,000 must go to a charity at Tufts University, where Donahue attended veterinary school; and 240 hours of community service, of which 80 must be spent working at a facility that cares for animals.

Day also ordered Doda to write an article about the crash and about snowboarding safety for a national magazine.