SALT LAKE CITY — Four times, Trisha Tower said, she heard her former roommate admit that he had "killed a cop" when he showed up at her house on June 25, 2007.
Curtis Michael Allgier, who is charged with capital murder, turned up suddenly that day at the west Salt Lake home. Allgier needed a change of clothes from his bright prison-issue jumpsuit.
He also needed somewhere to hide.
"He said he had escaped from prison, he had killed a cop and had stolen a truck," Tower testified in 3rd District Court Tuesday during Allgier's preliminary hearing.
"I said, 'What?' "
Allgier repeated what he had said two more times to her and once to her female roommate.
"He grabbed my face, gave me a kiss and asked me to hide him," Tower said.
She told him she could not do that because police officers had arrived in the area minutes before Allgier had arrived. Instead, she gave him sweat pants and a shirt and helped him sneak out a back door. He jumped a fence and ran off.
As the massive police pursuit of Allgier intensified, Tower said, she grew frightened.
"I was freaking out because I cared about him," she testified.
Allgier is charged with capital murder in the shooting death of corrections officer Stephen Anderson, 60, who was killed during a struggle at University Hospital not long before Allgier arrived at Tower's house.
Tower was candid about her own criminal background, including selling drugs and offering a "safe house" for others who had broken the law. She also said under oath that she had gotten high on meth several times that day and initially lied to police.
Tower said she called her brother in a panic and he helped hide Allgier's jumpsuit.
Tower ultimately pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice, a first-degree felony, in connection with this incident. As part of a plea bargain, she said, she served a year in jail and was ordered to serve probation and undergo substance abuse treatment.
Earlier testimony on Tuesday seemed to blame the victim for not insisting on an extra guard to help with security during transportation. Allgier, now 31, had been taken him from the Utah State Prison to a hospital that day for an MRI.
Scott Jenack, who handles MRIs at University Hospital, said Anderson brought Allgier there in a prison jumpsuit, handcuffs and chains.
Allgier noted that his jumpsuit had metal snaps, and Jenack told Anderson that Allgier either needed to change into a hospital gown or the jumpsuit had to be pulled down far enough so the snaps would not interfere with the MRI equipment.
Allgier changed into a hospital gown and returned with no handcuffs, although Jenack said he had seen plastic "flex cuffs" on him at one point. Jenack said he didn't see the flex cuffs removed but assumed that Anderson had taken them off.
After the 20-minute procedure, Allgier went into a changing room to put his jumpsuit on again. Jenack, meanwhile, was in another room with a female co-worker.
"We heard the chains, and it sounded like there was some kind of wrestling around in there," Jenack said. "We could hear chairs slam into the wall, a couple of heavy blows and a really deep grunt, kind of like (it was) from pain."
The co-worker went into another room, and Jenack went to the front desk to get someone to call 911 and report a problem with a guard and a prisoner. Jenack spoke to a medical resident and walked through other areas to make sure no one else was there.
"I heard two gunshots," Jenack said. "They were coming from where the prisoner was."
Later, when Jenack and a doctor tried to push open the door of the room, Jenack said he could see Anderson's feet. Anderson was on the floor.
Questions from defense attorneys, among other things, focused on travel orders issued for prisoners. Allgier's travel order included a "caution" that identified him as a gang member, escape risk and someone who needed a two-man detail to transport him, according to Corrections Capt. Larry Benzon.
"Two-man — that's a policy?" asked defense attorney Rudy Bautista.
"Yes," Benzon said.
"Mr. Allgier was to be transported with at least two prison guards? Mr. Anderson violated that policy," Bautista said.
"I don't know if he violated the policy," Benzon said.
"He (Anderson) had the discretion to cancel the transportation order?" Bautista asked.
"Yes," Benzon said.
The heavily tattooed Allgier, who now has a goatee and small, clear spectacles, appeared alternately interested and bored during the hearing.
Along with capital murder, Allgier is charged with seven other felonies. Testimony is scheduled to run through Friday, when a judge will determine if there is enough evidence against Allgier to order him to stand trial.
e-mail: lindat@desnews.com