An Illinois truck driver charged in the death of a Maryland family traveling through Nebraska last fall has pleaded not guilty.

KSID Radio in Sidney reports 36-year-old Josef Slezak stood mute in Cheyenne County District Court Thursday morning to nine felony charges.

The court accepted Slezak’s decision to stand mute, entering pleas of not guilty to all charges.  A status hearing has been set for April 3.

Slezak is accused of exceeding federal regulations on rest for truckers, driving from Milwaukee, Wisconsin to Sidney without taking a break, falling asleep at the wheel and slamming his rig into the back of stopped traffic on I-80.  The crash killed a family of four, including a pregnant woman, who were moving from Maryland to California during the early morning hours of September 9, 2012.