Evidentiary portion of Johnson trial ends; closing arguments this week

PALMER — The evidentiary portion of the trial of Dominic Johnson for his role in the murder of Palmer teen David Grunwald on November 13, 2016 concluded this week. Closing arguments will occur next week, and a verdict will be returned once the jury has made their decision.

During the presentation of the final pieces of evidence by the prosecution, cell phone data, autopsy photos, and groundbreaking video were presented to the jury. Johnson and his attorney, Lyle Stohler, stood between the jury and the seating area and gazed upon a television that showed a video taken just a few hours before Grunwald was murdered.

“As hard as I can in the head just to try to hurt him, just to try to f****** hurt him,” Johnson says in the video.

The much debated video was just one part of the evidence stacked against Johnson that was presented by the prosecution last week.

Criminal Justice Technician for AST Brittany Johnson (of no relation to the accused), used cell phone communications recovered from Dominic Johnson’s phone to outline the timeline of events following November 13. Johnson used a program called Cellebrite to retrieve communications between Dominic Johnson and others involved with the crimes. Brittany Johnson showed a photo of Dominic throwing up what was believed to be a gang sign on September 28 of 2016. Brittany Johnson detailed Dominic’s contacts. Erick Almandinger, David Evans, and the rest of those charged with murder and other crimes surrounding the murder were listed as contacts in Dominic’s phone. Devin Peterson, portrayed as the advisor of the gang by the prosecution, was listed only as ‘G.’ Austin Barrett, who has been accused of pulling the fatal trigger, was listed as ‘Andrew.’

Johnson contacts various members of the group throughout the day, but there is a gap in communication between 6 and 8 p.m. on November 13. Following his last communication to a female contact, there were no calls made from 7:52 p.m. until 9:43 p.m.

“There was an absence of data,” Brittany Johnson said.

Following the alleged time of the murder around 9:30, Dominic Johnson makes repeated calls to Peterson at 9:47. In the days following the murder, Johnson makes calls to Barrett, Evans, and Almandinger.

“There’s something else that has surfaced that’s very very very bad idk if the cops have it,” Johnson texted in the days following the murder.

Stohler focused on fashion for his defense. In photos, Dominic Johnson can bee seen wearing a blue hooded sweatshirt that he was allegedly wearing the night of the murder. The hoodie was not confiscated by police, but was later burned at the initial suggestion of his mother. Johnson’s mother claimed that the hoodie was an American Eagle brand, but Stohler claims that there is insufficient evidence. Aeropostale, a similar brand, also uses ‘AE’ as designs on their clothing.

District Attorney Roman Kalytiak brought in Technical Crimes Unit Sergeant Supervisor Ramin Dunford to add additional expert witness testimony surrounding the cell phone data retrieved by investigators following the murder.

“The significance is in the totality of the data of the records as a whole,” Dunford said. “If the phone’s not receiving any data any voice calls and text messages or Nelos hits, there’s one of two things that could happen: it’s either turned off or it can’t be seen on the network.”

Dunford traveled to and photographed all of the cell phone towers in question to show that it was possible that if Dominic Johnson’s phone was on, it would have sent data to the towers. There is no data recorded between 9:05 and 9:43 on November 13.

“None of the Nelos hits indicate that they are at or past Knik River Road,” Dunford said.

Dunford admitted photos from the cell towers and explained that radio waves work like light, and that if an area is visible from the cell tower, there is cell phone coverage.

“If the phone is on it’s going to be communicating to something,” Dunford said.

Dunford provided photos that show only a small area of Knik River Road that is not visible from the towers. Stohler contests that Johnson’s phone never provided data from Knik River Road because he never traveled that far. Stohler also contends that that is why Dominic Johnson was unable to show Troopers the exact location of the body.

Starting at 9:43, a variety of cell phone data shows up, some even putting Johnson’s location in the middle of the Knik River.

“There’s always outliers. There’s always data points that don’t make sense,” Dunford said.

Dunford also detailed the difference in data collection between that of the active warrant on Johnson’s phone following November 13 when Troopers received location information for the cell phone multiple times an hour and the data which was used to pinpoint Johnson’s location on November 13, which was collected after the fact and not nearly as precise. Dunford suggested that the wide array of location data collected after 9:43 indicates an urgency in travel.

“Travel would indicate it’s in confluence or indicate that they were traveling at a higher rate of speed,” Dunford said.

Autopsy photos were shown to the jury to show injuries on David Grunwald’s hands and head. This was the only portion of the trial that David’s parents were not present for.