Theft trial ends

PALMER — Attorneys delivered closing arguments Friday in a trial over a series of cabin burglaries from the Big Lake and Flat Lake areas in winter this year.

Dawson Sult, 29, stood accused this week of six felonies and three misdemeanors in connection with a string of thefts from Burnt Point and Flat Lake cabins in the Big Lake area. Troopers arrested Sult, then 28, in March after a tip and surveillance led to his arrest.

After obtaining a warrant for GPS-based surveillance of a distinctive Ford Explorer belonging to Sult — it had four different tires on each of the wheels and an ignition which could be started by a screwdriver — they tracked Sult to a Point MacKenzie Road cabin, where they discovered several items reported stolen from the Big Lake-area cabins.

The prosecution’s case largely focused on tire tracks left in the snow at the scenes of several of the burglaries. Similar tracks were later photographed near the MacKenzie cabin, which Sult was recorded referring to in a jailhouse phone conversation with his mother.

The evidence linking Sult to the case was also based on timing, according to Assistant District Attorney Brittaney Dunlop.

“At least two or three times a week I lose my keys, and I spend more minutes than I’d like to admit looking around the house for them,” she said. “When I find my keys, I stop looking. I think that’s the way most people are.”

“In this case, in January and February, there’s a ton of fuel thefts and break-ins in the valley, the police believe it to be Dawson Sult through reliable tips and information they get, they do an investigation, they uncover evidence, they arrest Dawson Sult and put him in custody for the offenses, and the fuel thefts stop,” Dunlop added.

Anticipating a line of argument eventually pursued by assistant public advocate Andrew Weinraub, Sult’s lawyer, Dunlop also pointed out that while it was possible for troopers to obtain more evidence — the prosecution’s case lacked DNA evidence, fingerprints, or plaster casts of the tire tracks, though it did contain more than 100 photographs — they had done enough to prove Sult was the perpetrator.

“Ladies and gentlemen, when you find your keys, you stop looking,” she said. “You have more than enough evidence to convict Dawson Sult of all the offenses that he’s been charged with.”

A red snowmachine stolen in one of the thefts served as a transit vehicle between a gated road where Sult parked his Explorer and the location of the cabin where Alaska State Troopers recovered some of the stolen goods, including a distinctive spiked pair of XtraTuf boots.

“It’s not just a cabin where he happens to be parked that’s a mile down the road,” she said. “It’s got items from two different burglaries there. Ladies and gentlemen, these kinds of coincidences don’t happen to innocent people.”

While the evidence presented was certainly strong, it wasn’t enough to convict, Weinraub said. He brought an avocado-colored plastic rotary phone to court just to make the point.

“This is a New Jersey Bell phone,” he said. “I got it from my Mom, it has her phone number from where she grew up, in Philadelphia. It’s hefty, got a rotary dial, it still works. Plug it in, it still works. Sometimes, there’s a better mousetrap, though. Sometimes there’s a better version of the same thing that comes along and is, perhaps better.”

He held up an iPhone.

“This (dial phone) calls people, this (iPhone) calls people,” he said. “This (iPhone) does I don’t know how many other things. It does plenty more than call people. Is it a better mousetrap? Perhaps it is.”

The state case should include forensic evidence, like fingerprints, DNA and tire tracks, Weinraub said.

“It’s 2014,” he said. “There is DNA testing in the State of Alaska.”

The key analogy Dunlop employed was poor, Weinraub added.

“When your burden of proof is so high, you do need to look further,” he said. “Perhaps it’s a good analogy, but by comparison, it’s not the same.”

The jury began deliberations Friday afternoon. As of Monday they were back at it. As of press time it was unclear whether they’d yet reached a verdict.

Contact Brian O’Connor at 352-2269 or brian.oconnor@frontiersman.com