SALT LAKE CITY -- A Springville man whose eighth drunken driving conviction sent him to prison for a crash that killed a woman is now asking a court to overturn the guilty verdict in his ninth DUI case.

The Utah Court of Appeals heard arguments Tuesday in Robert Van Dyke's 2008 conviction.

Van Dyke previously served nearly five years in prison for a 2000 drunk driving crash that killed 36-year-old Michelle Bradley, of West Valley City, and severely injured her 12-year-old daughter, according to past news reports. He had been arrested and charged with DUI offenses four times prior to the accident and had a blood alcohol content of 0.36, more than four times the legal limit of 0.08.

Three months after his parole ran out in 2007, he was arrested in Spanish Fork.

Van Dyke was leaving a sports park when he walked by a family who said they smelled alcohol on his breath. After he got into his SUV, they called police and told a dispatcher he was "clearly intoxicated."

A few minutes later, a local police officer followed Van Dyke for about nine blocks. He reported seeing Van Dyke's vehicle weave within the lane four or five times. He declined field sobriety tests, citing constitutional protections against self-incrimination, and was arrested.

Van Dyke, 44, was convicted in April 2008 and is currently in the state prison in Gunnison.

In court on Tuesday, defense attorney Shelden Carter said police didn't have reasonable suspicion to stop his client. The 911 call from a witness didn't provide evidence of any criminal behavior, he argued, and relied partially on a potentially innocent report that Van Dyke tried to strike up a conversation with the couple's young son.

Carter noted that the police officer who responded noticed him weaving within his lane but did not see any violation of traffic laws. Allowing officers to pull over drivers for simply weaving within their own lane raises concerns about arbitrary stops by police, he said.

"It's a matter of individual freedom for you and for me," Carter said after the hearing.

But Assistant Attorney General Ryan Tenney argued that several factors justified the stop, especially when looked at in totality. Individual reports, such as Van Dyke's conversation with the boy or the swerving in the lane, may be innocently explained away but, taken together, amount to enough suspicion for a traffic stop, he said.

"We don't view any factor in isolation," he told the three-member appeals panel.

Afterward, Tenney said Van Dyke's first DUI conviction came in 1985.

"Mr. Van Dyke is a danger to the community," Tenney said. "He belongs in prison."

The Court of Appeals did not immediately rule on Van Dyke's appeal.

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