WEST JORDAN — After deliberating for 11 hours, a jury Friday found Eugene Christopher Wright guilty of murdering prominent Springville businessman and hockey coach Kenneth Dolezsar, who was gunned down three years ago in the parking lot of a Sandy restaurant.
The jury also found Wright guilty of aggravated robbery for stealing Dolezsar's car after the shooting.
Wright shook his head slightly as the verdicts were read.
Third District Judge Royal Hansen set sentencing for May 28.
Dolezsar's widow, Dee Mower, was crying softly as the court clerk read the verdicts. Surrounded by family, she left the courtroom with tears in her eyes while holding hands with family members.
Across the courtroom, Wright's wife, Bianca Pearman-Brooks, had friends clustered so closely around that her face was shielded. Just before the verdicts were read, she briefly rested her head on a friend's shoulder.
Mower's son, Barry Steed, later said the jury's decision will help his family.
"It was a horrible day when we got the information that Kenny had been killed and today is the start of a healing process," he said. "We're not a vengeful family, but in the heinous way that Kenny was taken from us, we hope the judge will consider that and justice will be served."
Steed praised his step-father, calling him a pillar in the community who was loved by all who knew him.
"There's no way to bring him back. We just have to move on. And this day is a start for us to be able to do just that," Steed said.
Steed declined to speculate as to what would motivate Wright to kill his step-father. Steed was asked what he thought should be done regarding David Novak, a man described in court as a "con man" who had business dealings with both Wright and Dolezsar, and who the defense team suggested might have been the killer.
Steed said he hoped there would be more investigation into Novak, but did not elaborate.
A group of Wright's friends from the United States and Britain, who looked somber, quickly left the courthouse following the verdict.
Jurors also declined to say anything as they headed to their cars in the parking lot.
Defense attorney Ed Brass later said he was extremely disappointed, but said he would never criticize jurors for the difficult task they must perform.
"I believe Mr. Wright is innocent, and also we believe it's not Mr. Wright (who is responsible)," Brass said. "There are things that could have and should have been explored."
His co-counsel, Kim Cordova, wiped away tears in the courtroom as the verdicts were read.
Prosecutor Josh Player said the jury did its job.
"I believe experts provided all the information the jury needed. The jury did what they were asked to do," Player said. "I'm pleased they deliberated as long as they did."
Earlier Friday, the judge denied the jury's request to review testimony from the prosecution's main witness. The jury sent a request about 2 p.m. to Hansen, asking for video of the courtroom testimony of Lee Carlson and a video of a police interview with Carlson on the day Dolezsar was gunned down in the parking lot of a Sandy Village Inn near South Towne Mall. Jurors apparently wanted to compare the two versions of his testimony.
But after sending a note to jurors asking for clarification of what exactly they wanted, Hansen denied their request and directed them to follow the written jury instructions they had been given earlier. Among those instructions were requirements that jurors rely on their common memory of what they had seen and heard in the courtroom.
Player said during closing arguments Thursday that the only just conclusion to the complicated case would be to find Wright guilty.
Player said Carlson got enough of a glimpse at the man who shot Dolezsar on Nov. 15, 2007, in the restaurant parking lot. The shooter pumped five bullets into Dolezsar, then stole his car and fled the scene.
Carlson at first told police he was 80 percent sure he identified the right man and at trial said he was 100 percent certain that the tall blue-eyed man with a goatee and mustache sitting at the defense table was the killer.
But Brass said Carlson was an unreliable witness for many reasons: Carlson got only a glimpse of the shooter, the lighting was bad in the restaurant parking lot and Carlson did his own experiment downloading pictures of Wright after he was arrested and changed them electronically by putting wigs on them, which Brass said "tainted" Carlson's testimony.
Carlson also appeared confused as to when and if he told prosecutors about his computerized experiment.
"How reliable is that? 'Maybe I just forgot,' " Brass said. "Maybe I just picked the wrong person out of the line-up."
Player also reminded jurors Thursday that five shell casings found at the scene matched a test shell casing found in a gun box in Wright's condominium. Wright's DNA also was found on the inside of the driver's side door of Dolezsar's car.
In addition, cell phone records setting up a breakfast meeting — and then placing another call just a half-hour before Dolezsar was killed — came from a disposable phone Wright had purchased. Cell phone tower transmission records show the person who made two calls arranging the meeting phoned from the Salt Lake downtown area where Wright's home and office were, and the last call was made near the mall.
Player said Wright drove south to kill Dolezsar because "the golden goose wasn't going to lay an egg for Chris Wright" in the form of a $2 million loan that Wright wanted for his land development business.
Player also was skeptical of claims that Wright's wife previously lost Wright's 9 mm handgun while the couple took some British friends shooting near the Great Salt Lake. Player also downplayed Pearman-Brooks' testimony that Wright was sick with food poisoning and home with her on the day Dolezsar was killed.
But Brass said Wright had no reason to harm Dolezsar: "Chris Wright gained nothing from Ken Dolezsar's death."
Instead, Brass suggested a mutual acquaintance, David Novak, could have the disguised man wearing a wig who shot Dolezsar around 7 a.m. Novak has been described by lawyers for both sides as a "con man" who once spent time in federal prison for wire fraud after trying to get rich by faking his own death.
Dolezsar's wife, Dee Mower, was set to be sentenced to prison in 2005 for tax fraud for business dealings involving her ex-husband, and Novak had promised both of them a commutation from President George W. Bush — for a payment of $25,000 from each.
Mower, who had been divorced from Tom Mower and married Dolezsar in 2003, had paid Novak 425,000 for the help he promised and her ex-husband paid the same sum. Novak never came through and both Dee and Tom Mower ended up goingto prison anyway.
Mower said she doubted Novak from the start and testified she got such "a bad feeling" about him that she had begged Dolezsar not to have any dealings with him. Dolezsar apparently ignored that advice and was communicating with Novak, apparently in an effort to get his wife out of the 14-month prison term she served in 2006-2007.
Novak had other big-ticket deals financed with Dolezsar's money, including a poorly made movie that no one wanted to buy.
Mower began a nutritional supplement and personal care product business years ago, and when she and her former husband, Tom, were divorced, they split the $400 million from the sale. Dolezsar had about $120 million that he could invest as he wanted.
Brass suggested that Novak was the one who wanted Dolezsar dead, because Novak had "swindled" Mower's family out of millions. Novak also lived in the same condo complex as Wright and, as head of the homeowner's association, had a key to everyone's home.
e-mail: lindat@desnews.com