Both Paul Omodt and Karl Kautter stated and testified that a police car had pulled behind them as they approached the two–to-four lane transition about 500 feet north of the Gwinnco Driveway.
Two and one-half
years later prior to Chapel’s trial, District Attorney Danny Porter would
convince them that it was the officer in the driveway behind them. At trial,
there were no visual aids that would show the location of the transition
related to the muffler shop driveway.
As it is plain to
see, the police officer in the driveway could not have returned to his car,
backed out onto PIB and caught up with the Omodt/Kautter vehicle in the few
seconds that it took to cover these few hundred feet. The speed limit at this
point was 45 MPH, and Paul Omodt, who was driving, clearly stated that he was
traveling the speed limit as he passed the driveway and approached the
transition.
Even Danny Porter
seemed to acknowledge the presence of the second police car when he asked one
of these witnesses whether “another” police car pulled up behind the pair*. A Freudian slip perhaps.
* Transcript of Proceedings, July 10, 1995 on Motion for
Closure of Evidentiary Hearings, Page 80, Line 5. During this same hearing
Kautter indicates that the time he passed the driveway shortly after 10 PM. [Transcript
of Proceedings, July 10, 1995 on Motion for Closure of Evidentiary Hearings,
Page 74, Line 18.] He and Omodt were on their way to Kautter’s home on Ansel Court, about a 7 to
10 minute drive from the muffler shop. PIB skirts all the built-up areas of the
area, and both witnesses testified that all the traffic lights they encountered
were Green.
* Transcript of Proceedings, July 10, 1995 on Motion for Closure of Evidentiary Hearings, Page 80, Line 5.
