By Kelli Anderson
OGDEN – The trial of a man accused of suffocating his infant son will start Wednesday, July 9, after his lawyer failed to get a police confession thrown out of court.
Patrick Tilt”s jury was picked Monday, then immediately sent home for a hearing on defense attorney Ron Yengich”s motion to suppress his written statement.
Tilt told Ogden Police Detective James Gent he squeezed his 5-month-old son Andrew to death on July 24, 2002, then fell asleep next to him.
Yengich argued the confession was untrustworthy because it was not tape-recorded, even though Gent could have used video and audio equipment.
Second District Judge Scott Hadley denied the motion, ruling Tilt signed the statement and “even made a correction as it was being typed … he could have recanted it. But he chose not to and signed it and said it was true.”
With that, Hadley ordered the trial to resume Wednesday and run through Friday.
Tilt”s statement wasn”t taped because Gent thought he was taking a statement from a witness, only to realize later that Tilt might be culpable, deputy Weber County Attorney Dean Saunders said.
Tilt was read his Miranda rights, then gave a statement, talking so fast Gent had to ask him to slow down at times.
Tilt said he dozed for four hours beside his son”s body before waking to tell his wife something was wrong, and feigning ignorance of the death, Gent testified at a preliminary hearing in November.
The child died of compression asphyxiation, according to medical testimony. In addition to hemorrhaging in the heart, lungs and thymus, the infant had nine broken ribs.
“I felt so bad I wanted to kill myself … I didn”t want anyone to think I was a bad father,” Tilt told Gent.
But Tilt also described mounting frustration with the child, whose medical problems demanded attention.
