Moments after the Merrimack County Attorney's Office rested its aggravated drunken driving case against Adam Lamothe yesterday, Lamothe's attorney asked Judge David Sullivan to dismiss the matter for lack of evidence.

Sullivan denied the request and gave the defense a frank assessment of the evidence he's so far heard - and seen - for himself. On Wednesday after court, Sullivan said, he drove the Main Street stretch where an intoxicated Lamothe ran over two bicyclists in 2007, nearly killing one of them.

Like Lamothe, Sullivan came upon two bicyclists who had to shift from the parking lane of Main Street into his travel lane to avoid parked cars. Sullivan considered Lamothe's argument that the bicyclists, not him, caused the crash by unexpectedly darting from the parking lane into his path in the driving lane.

"I'm not psychic. I know the cyclists have to go around that car," Sullivan said. "Every driver in New Hampshire faces that thousands and thousands and thousands of times during their lifetime. I didn't hit either of those cyclists last night."

Sullivan said the area, which runs in front of The Draft, is well-lighted at night and offers long, unobstructed views. Furthermore, Sullivan said, if Lamothe couldn't see the cyclists he hit, it was because he had knocked out one of his headlights 20 minutes before in a hit-and-run.

That doesn't mean Sullivan, who is deciding the case instead of a jury at the defense's request, has already determined the verdict. It means only, he said, that the prosecution has put on enough evidence.

Lamothe, 26, of Massachusetts, has no memory of the crash, according to trial testimony, but has admitted to being impaired that night. His blood alcohol level was 0.17 percent, more than twice the legal limit, according to toxicology reports.

He hopes to win the case, and thereby avoid a 3½- to 7-year prison sentence, by persuading Sullivan he was not responsible for the crash. He disputes prosecution allegations that he hit the bicyclists because he was partially driving in the parking lane.

Because neither Lamothe nor the two bicyclists, Daniel Gallant and Adam Boyer, can remember the collision, both sides are relying heavily on crash experts.

Concord police Detective Michael Cassidy testified Wednesday that the damage to the bicycles, Lamothe's car and the parked car, as well as the debris scattered after impact, shows that Lamothe was straddling the parking lane and travel lane when he plowed into the bicyclists.

Yesterday, the defense called its expert, retired Concord police detective Carl Lakowicz, a crash reconstruction expert with Northpoint Collision Consultants in Gilmanton.

By mapping out the scattered debris, assessing the vehicle and bike damage, and reviewing the bicyclists' injuries, Lakowicz said he was able to determine how the crash happened. He also reviewed a short surveillance tape that caught the end of the crash, considered how far the bicyclists had traveled before the crash, and estimated how fast Lamothe and the bicyclists were traveling when they collided.

Lakowicz said he then considered how much time and distance a driver needs to see, register and react to something in the roadway. At Lamothe's speed of 32 mph, he needed 3.5 seconds and 176 feet to avoid a collision, Lakowicz said.

Lakowicz said he believes Gallant and Boyer darted in front of Lamothe one second and 46 feet before he hit them. "(Lamothe) or any driver would have been left with no time and no distance to avoid a collision," Lakowicz said.

On cross-examination, prosecutor Wayne Coull vigorously questioned Lakowicz's analysis and conclusions.

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