WEST JORDAN — A mystery man who once spent time in prison for trying to fake his own death has emerged as a significant character in the murder trial of Eugene Christopher Wright.
Wright, 35, is on trial for the Nov. 15, 2007, shooting death of Kenneth Dolezsar, 50, a Springville businessman and hockey coach at what was then Utah Valley State College.
Both Wright and Dolezsar were involved in business dealings with David Novak, who was found guilty of wire fraud and spent time in federal prison.
Dolezsar loaned $1.6 million to Novak to make a movie. Wright, in turn, has said Dolezsar was poised to lend him $2 million for a business venture that was stymied because of Dolezsar's death.
However, police say there's no physical evidence that Dolezsar and Wright ever met each other.
But both men had dealings with Novak, according to phone records.
Defense attorney Ed Brass on Wednesday repeatedly questioned Sandy Police Sgt. Dean Carriger about a DNA sample that has not been identified that was found on the steering wheel of Dolezsar's car. The car was stolen at the scene of Dolezsar's slaying; police found it later.
Novak was interviewed by police shortly after Dolezsar's death but has since disappeared and cannot be located. Carriger said he had not asked Novak for a DNA sample. Brass noted that federal prisoners are required to supply a DNA sample.
However, Carriger said he was unaware of when that requirement was implemented.
Brass also quizzed Carriger closely about whether the unknown DNA sample had ever been introduced into a national database. Carriger said he was unsure because another officer was handling that. If the sample was put in the database, Brass said he'd never been informed about it.
Later, both prosecutors and defense attorneys agreed that the DNA from the unknown male taken from the car's steering wheel had been entered into a statewide DNA database but was not eligible for the national database and was not entered there. As a result, it was never compared to Novak.
Carriger also testified that Dolezsar's wife, Dee Mower, who is in federal prison for tax fraud, did not at first tell police what her husband told her on the phone the night before he was shot.
He had, in fact, told her he was going to a 7 a.m. meeting the next day, according to prison phone records. Only after being reminded that prison phone calls were recorded did Mower acknowledge that she knew her husband was meeting someone at 7 and upon further questioning speculated that the person might have been David Novak.
"Mr. Novak is a con man, right?" Brass asked.
"Yes," Carriger said.
Wright is charged with murder and aggravated robbery, both first-degree felonies. His trial is set to run through May 7.
e-mail: lindat@desnews.com