SALT LAKE CITY — Almost a year from the day of his arrest, former Sen. Sheldon Killpack, R-Syracuse, pleaded guilty to driving under the influence of alcohol.
Killpack, 42, entered a guilty plea Wednesday to the class B misdemeanor in 3rd District Justice Court in Salt Lake City before Judge Shauna Graves-Robertson.
A charge of class C misdemeanor failure to stay in one lane was dismissed in exchange for the guilty plea.
Graves-Robertson sentenced Killpack to serve 48 hours of community service in lieu of two days in Salt Lake Metro Jail.
She also sentenced him to complete a 16-hour DUI course.
Both the community service and the course need to be completed within 100 days, according to the court website. Killpack also has to pay a $1,350 fine.
Killpack was arrested Jan. 15, 2010, after a Utah Highway Patrol trooper pulled him over near 700 East and 3300 South in Salt Lake City when noticing Killpack’s truck crossing the dotted lines.
Killpack refused to take a breath test and also failed the field sobriety tests. He was booked in Salt Lake Metro Jail after blood tests showed his blood-alcohol level was 0.11, above the legal limit of 0.08.
Killpack resigned as Senate majority leader Jan. 16, 2010.
His attorney, Ed Brass, had earlier filed a motion to have the case dismissed, alleging the trooper didn’t have the right to pull over Killpack, arguing the state law doesn’t define what a lane of traffic is.
Brass contends that makes it impossible for anybody to know where a lane begins and ends.
Graves-Robertson ruled the trooper had reasonable suspicion to pull over Killpack for a traffic violation when Killpack drove on top of the lines.
