BELLEVILLE — Illinois Trooper Matt Mitchell admitted Friday that he was criminally responsible for an on-duty crash that killed two sisters, and apologized for his recklessness. On Monday, he tried to take it all back.
"I did not plead guilty because I felt that I did it," Mitchell said in an Illinois Court of Claims hearing here. "I did not think I could get a fair trial. I did what I had to do."
The about-face came three days after Mitchell, 31, pleaded guilty on two counts each of reckless homicide and aggravated reckless driving, and was sentenced to 30 months on probation. At the time, he said he would "forever regret" what happened.
But things changed under heated questioning Monday morning by lawyer Tom Keefe, who is seeking $24 million in wrongful-death damages for the family of victims Jessica Uhl, 18, and Kelli Uhl, 13. Mitchell refused to admit he caused the collision.
Keefe repeatedly asked Mitchell whether he had lied when he admitted wrongdoing in the criminal case.
"I guess I did," Mitchell responded.
The testimony apparently will have no bearing on Mitchell's felony plea.
"It's irrelevant what defendant Mitchell said today," said Robert Haida, the St. Clair County state's attorney. "The most important thing is what he said Friday when he told Judge (Jan) Fiss four times that he was guilty of the criminal counts."
Haida said last week that Mitchell was the first Illinois police officer ever convicted of reckless homicide for a death caused while on duty.
Mitchell had been involved in two previous crashes in his six-year State Police career. One of them resulted in a $1.7 million judgment against the state. The State Police have begun administrative steps expected to cost Mitchell his job. He has been relieved of duty since the crash, in which he also was seriously hurt.
Prosecutors said Mitchell had been talking on a cell phone and e-mailing on the patrol car's computer he drove at over 100 mph on Interstate 64 near Scott Air Force Base, answering a call to a traffic crash.
Investigators put his speed at 126 mph just before the collision.
Mitchell insisted he had used "reasonable care," and that he had finished the phone call before a white car cut him off and he lost control. Investigators never found that car, and Keefe referred to it Monday as the "phantom white car."
In his testimony, Mitchell said the four-minute phone call had been with the mother of his child, to talk about a good deal she had found on a bicycle. He said his e-mail was to another officer, seeking directions to the crash scene.
Mitchell said he was driving so fast because it was an emergency.
Keefe read from police radio transcripts that indicated Mitchell was told the accident had been cleared by other emergency responders. Mitchell said he did not hear that — only the location and that someone was possibly trapped.
Brian Uhl, the dead girls' father, emotionally testified about his last words to them after a family holiday shoot on Nov. 23, 2007, the day after Thanksgiving.
"Jess, drive safe," Uhl remembered saying.
Later, he was detoured around the crash site on his way to work but didn't think any of the cars he could see from a distance was his daughter's. When he got to work, he found out the girls were dead.
"And I screamed and I screamed and I yelled at God," Brian Uhl said.
He said justice demands that Mitchell never be a police officer again.
Kim Schlau, the girls' mother, described her last day with them, going to a movie that Nov. 22. "At that moment, I had everything I wanted," she said.
The session of the Court of Claims, which handles civil suits against the state, is conducted by a hearing officer who will present the information later to a seven-member panel for a verdict.
Larry Trent, former director of the State Police, is set to testify when the hearing resumes today.
Two people injured in a third car involved in the crash with Mitchell's car are suing separately.
http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/laworder/story/6DD928A4D7F8D0238625770B000CF73E?OpenDocument
You didn't think you'd get a fair trial? A police officer? THAT IS RICH. How long have you felt this way about the criminal justice system? You apparently felt it was fair enough for you to participate before, but when you find yourself as a Defendant, it is no longer fair. You sorry bastard.
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