PITTSBURGH—A federal court jury in Erie is hearing a northwestern Pennsylvania bar owner's lawsuit claiming a state trooper had no reason to stop her for suspected drunken driving three years ago.

Dianne Thompson, of Bradford, says Trooper Matthew Petrof ticketed her in October 2009 for littering and sitting too long at a yellow light after first making her submit to a blood-alcohol test without justification.

Thompson claims Petrof was retaliating for newspaper columns her brothers had written criticizing police, but U.S. District Judge Sean McLaughlin in Erie has ruled Thompson can't claim retaliation for things her brothers wrote.

But the judge says the jury can decide whether Petrof violated Thompson's rights by allegedly stopping her without probable cause and forcing her to take a blood test which revealed no alcohol in her system.