EL CAJON, Calif. -- An unemployed drifter with a history of drunken driving convictions pleaded not guilty Tuesday to felony charges stemming from the death of an Alpine man who was fatally struck while riding a bicycle.

Travis Chris Weber, 44, is charged with gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated in connection with the Dec. 2 death of 30-year-old Edward Costa.

Weber was involved in a fender-bender just before Costa, a self-employed construction worker, was killed on Alpine Boulevard near E. Victoria Drive, said Deputy District Attorney Gordon Paul Davis.

The charge carries allegations that Weber fled the scene and was convicted of felony DUI in 1985. If convicted, the defendant could face 20 years to life in prison, Davis said.

Weber was arrested two days after Costa's death. Davis said members of the victim's family were gathered at the accident site when they spotted the man going into a bar.

"Damage to his vehicle was consistent with a right front headlight assembly collected (at the crash scene) by the CHP," Davis told El Cajon Superior Court Judge Patricia Cookson.

The prosecutor said Weber told investigators he'd been drinking for five days because he was going through a divorce and was unsuccessfully looking for work in San Diego County and New York state, where he is a member of the Iroquois tribe.

Weber told authorities that he bought a pint of vodka in El Cajon the morning of the crash, according to the prosecutor.

A woman told investigators that she exchanged information with Weber after he struck the back of her Volkswagen Jetta, and she called 911 after he drove off. That was about three to four minutes before Costa was struck, Davis said.

"His thrust of the statement is he had a blackout," the prosecutor said after the hearing. "He could not remember the collision with the Jetta. He did not remember driving through Alpine. He does not recall hitting someone."

A surveillance camera on the east exterior wall of the new Alpine sheriff's substation captured the accident on video. It showed no "braking action" by the truck that hit the bicyclist, the prosecutor said.

"There was no brake marks and no skid marks," Davis said.

The judge scheduled a readiness conference for Dec. 18 and set bail at $1 million, a figure defense attorney Karen Hirr called "disproportionate."

Davis said Weber had a felony DUI conviction in 1985 in El Cajon resulting from a crash that caused injuries. The defendant also had misdemeanor DUI convictions in 1998 and 2005, and the judge noted still another DUI from New York in 1997.

Davis said Weber had an initial blood-alcohol level of .14 percent when he was arrested. Anything above .08 percent is considered illegal to operate a motor vehicle.