Guilty verdict for driver in high-speed chase

October 29, 2006

By MARY AMES/Frontiersman

PALMER - An Anchorage man who drove up to 90 mph, rounding blind curves in the oncoming lane, was convicted of vehicle theft Wednesday.

Paul M. Larson, 30, of Anchorage, also was found guilty of first-degree eluding a law enforcement officer, stemming from a June chase, after a jury deliberated about four hours.

Larson had borrowed a friend's 1999 Honda Civic to go to the store about 10 p.m. Two days later, on June 24, Alaska State Troopers tried to stop the Honda near Mile 50 Parks Hwy., after they received a report the car had been at the scene of an attempted burglary.

It was lucky no one was hurt in the chase, said Mike Walsh, assistant district attorney, in closing arguments.

&#8220The chase left smoke pouring from the hood,” Walsh said.

The defense didn't contest the charge of first-degree eluding a police officer. The jurors watched a 10-minute video of the chase. But there was reasonable doubt about the charge of first-degree vehicle theft, said Elizabeth Varela, Larson's public defender.

&#8220You don't have a right to loan someone a car and then say it's stolen,” Varela said. &#8220He saw the lights, pressed the gas and tried to evade. That wasn't bright. He's guilty of that, but not of stealing the car.”

Kimberly Davis of Anchorage testified that she handed her car keys to Larson with the understanding he would go to the store and to a friend's house and be back in an hour. Davis also was going to allow Anne Larson, the defendant's wife, a place to live while she was waiting trial on a charge of third-degree misconduct involving weapons.

Anne Larson was released with an ankle monitor after being arrested in March as a felon in possession of a firearm, according to court records. Davis testified Anne Larson wasn't with her husband when Davis handed over the Honda's keys, but another friend, Kasey Martinez, was in the apartment. Martinez and Larson left together, she said.

&#8220I thought they were

my friends,” Davis said. &#8220They never came back, never called.

Nothing.”

Paul Larson dropped Martinez back at her Anchorage apartment, Davis said, but Larson didn't come in.

&#8220The message was, ‘Dude, they got more important things to do and they were on their way to the Valley,” Davis said.

Davis said she didn't call police to report her car stolen, because she believed since she handed Larson the keys, she couldn't. Instead, she called mutual friends and Larson's family, trying to locate him herself. The next morning, another friend called to say Anne Larson had cut her ankle monitor, Davis said, so she knew Paul and Anne Larson were together and had her car.

&#8220But I never talked to him until he called from jail,” she said.

There was another reason Davis didn't want to involve the police.

&#8220We had issues then,” she said. &#8220We were all addicts.”

Davis was no angel, but she thought the Larsons were her friends, Walsh said.

&#8220She allowed the defendant some use of the vehicle,” he said. &#8220It was a favor he returned by taking it on a high-speed chase in the Valley.”

The car chase ended when Larson lost control of the Honda near a dead-end street and collided with a septic pipe and a riding lawn mower, according to a trooper report. Paul Larson ran off but was tackled by Trooper Paul Wegrzyn, Walsh said. Troopers found Anne Larson in the Honda.

After the jury returned with guilty verdicts for both counts, Walsh credited Sgt. Troy Shuey and Wegrzyn with the success of prosecuting the case.

&#8220It put the whole community at risk,” he said. &#8220The verdict is just.”

Paul Larson is scheduled to be sentenced in Palmer Superior Court on Dec. 18, Walsh said. Ann Larson entered into a plea agreement Oct. 23 for a charge of attempted escape and was sentenced to four years, he said.

Contact Mary Ames at

352-2284 or mary.ames

@frontiersman.com.