Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
Lori Prichard reportingA 42-year-old Springville man, who has already spent six years in prison for killing a woman while driving drunk, is now on trial facing his latest drunken driving charge.
In court today, Robert Van Dyke's attorney told the jury in opening arguments, "Yeah, my client may have had a drink, but he could safely drive a car." That's certainly not according to Heidi and Travis Bird who reported Van Dyke to police after allegedly smelling alcohol on his breath.
Travis called 911. His call to police has become a crucial part of the prosecution's case. During the call, a dispatcher asked Travis, "Why do you believe he is intoxicated?" Travis replied, "He walked by me and my son, and we smelled alcohol. He's clearly intoxicated."
Travis Bird said he stands by that call he made to Spanish Fork police last September after seeing Van Dyke, whom he doesn't know, at a ballpark. Travis said, "We live in a community, and part of living in a community is looking out for everybody else, and I would hope other people would do the same thing considering the fact that I have small children. I want them to be safe."
The jury and one alternate, consisting of five women and four men, listened and took notes during each of the state's seven witnesses.
By the end of the day, the defense called two witnesses, Van Dyke's girlfriend and his father. They both said they didn't notice anything strange in Van Dyke's demeanor that night.
Van Dyke did not take the stand, so jurors didn't get a chance to hear from him. But all of the prosecution's witnesses described smelling alcohol on Van Dyke. Yet, there is no physical evidence. According to the prosecution, Van Dyke refused four sobriety tests by pleading the Fifth Amendment, so it's really up to the state's witnesses' testimony to sway the jury.
As we reported earlier, what will not come into play is Van Dyke's past drunken driving record. Jurors will not be hearing any of that.
This is Van Dyke's sixth drunken driving charge in Utah County. Closing arguments will be first thing in the morning.
E-mail: lprichard@ksl.com
