SALT LAKE CITY — Former Utah Senate majority leader Sheldon Killpack's driving fit all the indications of drunken driving the night he was arrested, a Utah Highway Patrol trooper told a judge Wednesday.
At a hearing in Salt Lake County Justice Court, defense attorney Ed Brass argued that trooper Raymond Thomson did not have enough reason to pull Killpack over and asked that the judge throw out all evidence collected during the stop.
That stop happened just after midnight on Jan. 15 and led to a drunken driving charge for Killpack, then a Republican state senator from Syracuse.
A tanned Killpack sported a new haircut as he appeared before Judge Shauna Graves-Robertson and his attorney argued that Thomson never had the required "reasonable suspicion."
The judge refused to rule on the defense motion Wednesday and another hearing was scheduled for September, but prosecution witnesses outlined their assertion that Thomson was justified in stopping Killpack.
Thomson took the stand while prosecutors played a portion of the trooper's dashboard camera video that showed the night's stop. The 10-year UHP veteran said he was a member of a DUI squad that night when he saw the truck Killpack was driving swerve and drive on the lane lines on 3300 South.
The night was foggy and Thomson testified that the video did not clearly show what he saw.
Killpack's vehicle caused another car to brake and swerve and could have caused an accident, Thomson said.
To back up their argument that while Killpack's truck may not have fully crossed the line, its mirror and fender would have been in the other lane, prosecutors called another UHP trooper to testify about the measurements of a truck like the one Killpack was driving.
A Salt Lake County transportation engineer also testified that lanes on 3300 South are the standard size.
Brass did not call any witnesses and objected to each prosecution witness beyond Thomson on the grounds that his or her testimony was irrelevant.
Another hearing was scheduled for Sept. 7 when each side will make its final arguments on the motion to suppress the evidence.
Killpack's attorneys contend that Thomson made an illegal stop and that the video does not back up his description of Killpack's driving.
If the evidence is suppressed, Brass said the state would have almost nothing to go on.
"There would be a lot missing," he said after the hearing.
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