‘Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa’ Lawyer’s comments draw ire from DA, victim’s parents

PALMER — The trial of Dominic Johnson for his role in the murder of Palmer teen David Grunwald on Nov. 13, 2016, continued on Thursday, wrapping up the third week of jury trial. The state prosecutors used audio, video, photos, and a timeline of events in an attempt to tie Johnson to the murder. The most emotional testimony came from David’s father, Ben Grunwald.

“I got the call from Sergeant Wegrzyn at 3:44 [p.m.] on December 2, 2016. He arrived at 4:02 [p.m.] and told us David had been tortured, kidnapped and murdered,” Ben Grunwald said.

Johnson’s attorney, Lyle Stohler, has made a habit of making objections regularly, especially on specific items like gang affiliation and use of racial slurs throughout the trial. Following Ben Grunwald’s statement during District Attorney Roman Kalytiak’s questioning, Stohler burst out in objection.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa! Objection, hearsay,” Stohler shouted.

Kalytiak immediately rebutted.

“Judge, I didn’t know whoa, whoa is a legal term of art,” Kalytiak said.

Kalytiak asked Ben Grunwald about a variety of details concerning his son. The Grunwald’s had bought a 1995 Ford Bronco Eddie Bauer edition for their son, while he used some of the money he had made mowing lawns to help. David’s mother Edie surprised him with new tires, and Ben meticulously detailed each of the repairs that the father and son had made on the vehicle.

“We wanted a safe vehicle for my son and made sure that we had one,” Ben Grunwald said.

Ben Grunwald detailed the issues with the key to the Bronco that had been broken off but still worked. He talked about the amount of keys on David’s keychain, where he kept his wallet, and what watch he wore. Grunwald was asked about his son’s apparel on the night of Nov. 13. David was wearing an orange hoodie and slippers. Grunwald was asked if his son had made a habit of wearing slippers outside the house.

“To me it meant that he was coming home. He wasn’t going anywhere. He was just dropping his girlfriend off,” Ben Grunwald said.

Grunwald was then asked about the actions he and his wife took to find their missing son in the days following his disappearance. At 9:30 p.m., on Nov. 13, just 10 minutes after David had missed curfew, Ben and Edie went out to search for their son. They went to where he had said he would be and retraced his route, stopping dozens of times to get out with flashlights and search for their son or his vehicle. After reporting David missing at the Palmer Alaska State Trooper post, the Grunwald’s continued to search for their son between where the Bronco was found burned and David’s girlfriend’s house. Ben stated that he was familiar with David’s girlfriend and their family, but when asked about his familiarity with Dominic Johnson, Austin Barrett, Bradley Renfro, Devin Peterson and David Evans, he had none.

Stohler has also made a habit of beginning questioning for each and every witness by asking how they are doing. Ben Grunwald was the first to have a surprising answer.

“Lousy,” Ben Grunwald said.

Stohler made a point that Johnson was responsible for locating the body, and questioned Grunwald to ask if he knew of his son’s relationship with Erick Almandinger. Stohler characterized the relationship by asking if David had kept it a secret from his parents. Ben Grunwald took a long pause, and said that it was not a secret, but agreed that it was merely something that his son did not disclose to him.

During the break immediately following Ben Grunwald’s testimony, Stohler got unsolicited advice from Edie, who took offense to his gleeful appearance with assistants.

“There’s nothing funny about this,” Edie Grunwald said. “It’s a serious situation here.”

Stohler left the room.

During the first portion of trial on Thursday, jurors heard audio from an interview with Misty Johnson, Dominic’s mother. Misty Johnson attempted to tell troopers what she knew, but had inconsistencies with her statements between the interviews at her home and her testimony on the witness stand. Stohler objected to playing the entire audio, suggesting that Misty never gave the information willingly, but that troopers had coerced it from her.

“What’s misleading is the troopers spin on this,” Stohler said.

Misty Johnson claims that the only information she had that troopers would want is Austin Barrett’s hooded sweatshirt that she claims he left at her house and wanted back. Troopers searched a messy bedroom for the hoodie, but it was never found. Troopers questioned her about the clothes her son was wearing the night of the murder.

“He said I washed it out, mom,” Misty Johnson told Wegryzn.

“Your first reaction is to start tampering with evidence?” Wegrzyn asks.

Misty Johnson told troopers that she thought her son was trying to be cool in front of her friends. She had told Sammy Larue to burn Dominic’s clothes, but then took it back.

“First I was like burn them, but then Dom was like no, those are like $300 jeans,” Misty Johnson said.

Misty Johnson described her son as someone who prided himself on being a pacifist and was not a violent person. Misty Johnson was shown a video by one of Dominic’s friends who was no longer allowed in her house that featured Dominic talking about ‘bashing David’s head in.’ Misty Johnson was asked why her immediate reaction was to burn Dominic’s clothes.

“That’s the only reason I can give you, because he’s my baby and I was scared and I was trying to protect him and it was stupid,” Misty Johnson said.

Wegrzyn is heard telling Misty Johnson that her participation in the investigation began when she asked to burn Dominic’s clothing.

“He just said that it was something he had to do was show the cops the kid’s body, a kid his age,” Misty Johnson said.

Wegrzyn paid for a room at the Valley Hotel using his state issued credit card before Grunwald’s body was found. At 2 a.m., he got a call from a Palmer Police Department officer who told him that Renfro was attempting to get a room in Palmer, but couldn't because he was not old enough. Wegrzyn obliged, and had been considering using Renfro to record conversations with Johnson and Almandinger. Wegrzyn has extensive history in law enforcement, specifically in the Mat-Su Valley. Much of the prosecution’s argument has been structured around the gang affiliation and activity that the group emulated. Wegrzyn was asked if there were real Crip gangs in the Mat-Su Valley, and denied their existence. Finishing the trial in the afternoon, Wegrzyn showed video that was taken from a helicopter of the route traveling from Erick Almandinger’s house to the site that Grunwald’s body was discovered. The helicopter follows Wegrzyn’s vehicle for the duration of the drive, totaling 27 minutes. Using data from cell phones, Johnson was tracked traveling toward the Butte for more than 40 minutes, but traveled north for only six.

The trial is scheduled to continue Monday.

Contact Frontiersman reporter Tim Rockey at tim.rockey@frontiersman.com.