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PRICE — An East Carbon man will stand trial on two counts of automobile homicide in connection with a September crash that killed two sisters from Sandy and critically injured their husbands.
Darin Scott Hawkinson, 47, waived his right to a preliminary hearing Tuesday in 7th District Court. After the waiver was enter, Judge Douglas Thomas ordered Hawkinson to stand trial on the pair of second-degree felonies and on a misdemeanor speeding charge.
Hawkinson was driving 81 mph on Sept. 23 when he drifted off state Route 6 east of Wellington and then swerved back into the path of an oncoming tractor-trailer truck, according to the Utah Highway Patrol.
The truck hit Hawkinson's Chevy Cavalier, splitting the car in two. The Cavalier was struck a second time by an oncoming Hyundai Santa Fe.
Sandy residents Sharlene Atkinson, 64, and Lynnette Hulse, 63 — both passengers in the Santa Fe — were killed in the collision. Two other occupants in the Hyundai — driver Steven Dee Hulse, 64, and passenger William Atkinson Jr., 65 — were each critically injured.
Hawkinson also sustained critical injuries. The driver of the semitrailer was not injured.
Hawkinson was driving under the influence of illegal drugs at the time of the crash, according to Carbon County prosecutor Jeremiah Humes. He has a prior conviction for impaired driving, court records show.
Defense attorney Sam Chiara said after Tuesday's hearing that Hawkinson as been "very clear that if he could go back and undo what happened, he would."
Hawkinson is scheduled to be arraigned May 29. He faces up to 15 years in prison on each of the automobile homicide charges, if he's convicted.
