The Montana Highway Patrol trooper who investigated a 2009 crash that killed a Columbia Falls woman and her teenage son said Tuesday it was a 17-year-old Evergreen girl’s vehicle that crossed the centerline at a speed of 85 miles per hour and caused the collision.

Trooper Glen Barcus made the assessment during the first day of testimony in Flathead District Court where Justine Winter is charged with two counts of deliberate homicide.

Winter is accused of intentionally crashing her northbound Pontiac Grand Am into an oncoming vehicle driven by Erin Thompson on the evening of March 19, 2009, in a construction zone on U.S. 93 north of Kalispell. The crash killed Thompson, who was pregnant, and her 13-year-old son Caden Vincent Odell.

Flathead County Deputy Attorney Lori Adams opened the trial by reading selected text messages allegedly sent from Winter’s cellular phone to her then-boyfriend Ryan Langford in the hours leading up to the crash.

Among them were the words “It’s ending” and “I want to kill myself, good bye Ryan,” Adams said.

The final message was sent only six minutes before Winter’s car collided with Thompson’s, Adams said.

Adams said evidence and testimony would prove that Winter intentionally crossed the centerline in an attempt to commit suicide.

“We ask you to hold her accountable for her actions,” Adams said, facing the jury.

In his own opening remarks, Winter’s defense attorney Maxwell Battle questioned prosecutors’ conclusion that the text messages indicated an imminent suicide attempt.

“We don’t have enough homicides to account for each young girl who says ‘he’s to die for,’” Battle said.

Battle said evidence would prove it was Thompson who crossed into Winter’s lane, an allegation also outlined in a lawsuit filed by Winter against Thompson’s estate.

He said he would further prove that the Stillwater Bridge — near the intersection of Church Drive on U.S. 93 — was void of fog-lines or a centerline when the collision occurred.

“This case doesn’t start and stop with an argument going back and forth between two young people that night,” Battle said.

Winter began crying as Battle described his perception of County Attorney Ed Corrigan’s decision to pursue homicide charges. He described a purported phone call between Corrigan and former Flathead County Sheriff’s Office deputy coroner Ernie Freebury in which Corrigan said an autopsy would not be required only four hours after the crash.

He also charged that media coverage of the crash and the subsequent criminal case has been sensationalized to focus on potentially incorrect information.

“There is no way you can come to any conclusion other than there is reasonable doubt to how this accident occurred,” Battle told the jury.

The first day of witness testimony included that of a bridge construction manager, Thompson’s brother and one of the first paramedics to arrive on the scene.

The majority of the day, though, was dedicated to questioning of Barcus, the lead investigator on the crash.

Jurors watched dash-mounted video camera footage that showed Barcus responding and later making initial observations at the crash scene. Barcus described how he worked his way from the south end of the bridge to the north, taking pictures and collecting witness accounts of the collision.

Adams led Barcus and the jury through a display of some 25 photographs that showed the damage to both Winter’s and Thompson’s vehicles. Among the photographs were images that showed Winter still trapped inside her vehicle and Thompson’s body leaning out of the rear, left portion of her Subaru.

“This whole portion of the vehicle is not where it’s supposed to be,” Barcus said, using a laser pointer to show where the engine compartment on Thompson’s car had been forced back to the firewall.

The rear portion of Thompson’s car was high-centered on the concrete bridge rail while the front end was reduced to a field of debris. Barcus said the passenger compartment of Thompson’s vehicle was “completely compromised” and that Thompson was pushed out the back door of the four-door vehicle.

Barcus, who estimated he’s completed at least 300 crash investigations in his five years as a trooper, used photographs to describe a predominantly straight roadway void of any hazards that might have caused Winter to swerve into the oncoming lane of traffic.

He said he went to the Kalispell Regional Medical Center after marking tire marks at the scene and tabulating evidence. It was there that he said he spoke with Winter’s boyfriend Langford, who allowed Barcus to view and photograph text messages on his phone that were sent by Winter.

Barcus furthered testified that analysis of Winter’s speedometer showed the speed of her vehicle at impact was 85 miles per hour. He explained that the impact of the crash caused the speedometer’s needle to “slap mark” the dash leaving an orange dot that provides the best evidence as to the speed of the vehicle.

Under cross-examination, Battle asked Barcus if he had viewed the speedometer on the night of the crash. Instead, Barcus said he removed and analyzed it at a later date as the vehicle was being stored at a county lot.

“You can’t tell us here today what it looked like that night, can you?” Battle asked.

“I cannot,” Barcus replied.

Battle further attempted to discredit Barcus’s collection of eye-witness accounts and the chain of command of evidence, noting that Winter’s vehicle had at one point been towed to a mechanic’s shop and that Thompson’s family had been allowed to take items from her own vehicle.

Battle asked Barcus whether or not he had considered items inside the vehicles when investigating the crash. He focused on a pair of skis, implying that they might have struck Thompson or had some role in the crash. Barcus said personal items were not evidence.

“You say that, but at the time no reconstruction of the crash had taken place,” Battle said.

He also criticized Barcus for failing to consider a cellular phone collected from Thompson’s vehicle as evidence, and asked whether or not fog-lines or a centerline were painted on the bridge at the time. Photographs appeared to show no lines on the bridge.

“Definitively, I cannot tell you one way or another,” Barcus said.

Questioning also focused on whether or not Winter was wearing a seat belt at the time of the crash, a fact that could play into whether or not she intended to kill herself. Photographs showed the seat belt locked in a vertical position with no indication it had been in use, Barcus said.

“My opinion is that Winter was not wearing her seatbelt at the time of the crash,” said Barcus, who later added, “It did not appear to be cut by an EMT or anybody else.”

The topic was revisited when Kalispell Fire Department Paramedic Joseph Hansen was called by prosecutors as the final witness of the day. Hansen, who said he and his partner were the first responders to arrive on scene, said he submitted a report that said Winter was wearing a seat belt at the time of the crash.

Hansen said he didn’t see a seat belt, but instead used information provided by another agency on the scene.

Adams asked if Winter had any injuries consistent with the use of a seat belt.

“I didn’t see any injuries across the chest or shoulder area,” Hansen said.

Winter’s other attorney, David Stufft, later said Winter had an abdominal injury consistent with an injury caused by her being restrained.

Kurtis Paulson, a project manager for Knife River Construction, was the first to testify Tuesday. He said he was in charge of the construction project on Stillwater Bridge, where the fatal crash occurred, and described the dimensions of the bridge. He said it was resurfaced in July 2009, though he said it was not a reaction to the crash.

Thad Johnson, Thompson’s brother, also testified. The questioning centered around Johnson’s telephone communication with Thompson in the hours before her death. Stufft asked if he had spoken with Thompson when she called at 8:19 p.m.

“I wish I would’ve talked to her,” Johnson said. “That would have been awesome. It didn’t work that way.”

Winter could face 100 years or life in prison on each of the deliberate homicide charges if convicted.

The trial is scheduled to resume today at 9 a.m.

Corrigan said today’s potential witnesses could include Freebury, Montana Highway Patrol troopers and a collision reconstructionist. The trial is expected to continue for about two weeks.