BELLEVILLE - lllinois trooper Matt Mitchell, who pleaded guilty of reckless homicide last week for an on-duty crash that killed two teens, insisted in a civil hearing this morning that he was not at fault for their deaths.

"I did not plead guilty because I felt that I did it," Mitchell said in an Illinois Court of Claims hearing in Belleville. "I did not think I could get a fair trial. I did what I had to do."

The family of the victims, Jessica Uhl, 18, and her sister, Kelli Uhl, 13, of Collinsville, is asking unspecified wrongful-death damages from Mitchell and the Illinois State Police for the Nov. 23, 2007, crash along Interstate 64 near the Scott Air Force base exit.

Mitchell, 31 was sentenced Friday to 30 months on probation after pleading guilty of two counts each of reckless homicide and aggravated reckless driving. At that hearing, he said he would "forever regret" the incident.

Prosecutors said he had been talking on a cell phone and e-mailing as he drove at over 100 mph answering a call to a traffic crash where he had been told other first-responders had arrived.

Mitchell insisted he had used "reasonable care," and that he had finished the phone call before another vehicle cut him off and he lost control. Officials never found the car Mitchell claimed drove into his path, and said his speed at impact with the Uhls’ car was 126 mph.

In his testimony this morning, Mitchell said the four-minute phone call had been with the mother of his child, to talk about a good deal she had found on a bicycle. He said the e-mail was to another officer, seeking directions to the crash scene.

The session of the Court of Claims, which handles civil suits against the state, is conducted by a hearing officer who will present the information later to a seven-member panel for a verdict.

Two people injured in a third car involved in the crash with Mitchell’s car are suing separately.

The state police has begun administrative steps that are expected to cost Mitchell his job. He had been relieved of duty since the crash, in which he also was seriously hurt.