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OGDEN — The owner of the boat that killed a University of Utah professor spent his first day on trial Monday. A jury was seated, and they'll soon go to work deciding Skyler Shepherd's fate over the next few days.
Esther Fujimoto, 49, was a molecular biologist at the University of Utah. She was part of a team at the university which helped to identify a breast cancer gene; and prior to her death, she was working to find a cure for cerebral palsy.
Friends told police Fujimoto often swam in a cove at Pineview Reservoir. On August 21, 2011, Police say Fujimoto was swimming 200 to 300 feet offshore when she was hit by a boat owned by Shepherd. Shepherd wasn't driving.
Investigators say after the impact, the boat circled back to check on Fujimoto, and they believe it was Shepherd who drove off, leaving the woman to die.
Investigators say after the impact, the boat circled back to check on Fujimoto, and they believe it was Shepherd who drove off, leaving the woman to die.
A grisly 911 phone call from the man who rushed to Fujimoto's aid paints the picture of three men leaving the scene of an accident at Pineview Reservoir.
"A lady has been hit by a boat. I heard her," the caller says. "I saw the boat that done it, and they left her."
Fujimoto's legs were severed by the boat's propeller as she was out swimming. She died a short time later.
Her family left court Monday looking somber, still seeking answers nearly a year and a half later.
"(It's) certainly difficult to hear, and to hear both sides of the story," said Andy Fujimoto, Esther's brother.
"She was a person, did a lot of good things," he said.
Skyler Shepherd is facing obstruction of justice charges, as well as reckless endangerment and failure to render aid. Prosecutors laid out their case that Shepherd and two others knowingly left the 49-year-old University of Utah professor badly injured.
Shepherd contends the boaters asked Fujimoto if she was OK before they left; family members say Shepherd and the two others were negligent.
"The dereliction of duty to our sister, and in a larger sense to society, is a debt that has to be paid," said Bryan Fujimoto, another of Esther's brothers.
The Fujimoto family has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the three men who were inside the boat. Prosecutors say had those men stopped and waited for help, the outcome could have been much different.
"They probably would have never been charged with anything on this case," said Weber County Prosecutor Dean Saunders. "It was them leaving her there, in the position she was, that led to her death; and that's why they're being charged."
Shepherd is facing misdemeanor charges including obstructing justice, reckless endangerment and failure to render aid. Two other people who were in the boat, Colton Raines and Robert Cole Boyer, also face charges.
Shepherd is scheduled for a three day trial while the other two men are scheduled to go to trial in February.
