Wife says Eugene Wright was sick at home when Kenneth Dolezsar was killed

WEST JORDAN — Eugene Christopher Wright could not have killed anyone Nov. 15, 2007, because he was home sick with food poisoning, his wife testified Tuesday.

Wright is charged with gunning down Kenneth Dolezsar around 7 a.m. that day in the parking lot of a Sandy Village Inn. Wright is accused of murder and aggravated robbery.

Bianca Pearman-Brooks, Wright's wife, said the couple had gone out to eat the night before and, hours later, both were vomiting from what she believed was food poisoning. Her husband was "terribly, terribly sick" and was in the bathroom throwing up sometime between 6:30 and 7 that morning, she said.

"At 7 a.m., he was back in bed with me," Pearman-Brooks said. "He is never sick, so I remember it clearly."

She said her husband left to go to Park City for work-related matters around 9 a.m., then came home. Both still felt queasy, but they eventually went to lunch.

Pearman-Brooks, who is from England, also said she was responsible for losing a 9 mm handgun that Wright owned. They had taken visiting English friends out shooting in a remote area near the Great Salt Lake, and Pearman-Brooks said she had set one of four guns down in the grass and apparently forgot to repack it in a gun bag when the day was over.

She told four people about this but made friends promise not to say anything to Wright. It was their first year of marriage, and she didn't want him to get upset, because her propensity for losing items had become a source of friction, Pearman-Brooks said.

"I lost two sets of house keys one month earlier," she said. "I lose jewelry all the time."

Pearman-Brooks also said a friend and neighbor, David Novak, had a key to the couple's condo.

Prosecutors are convinced Wright is the person who disguised himself in a pony-tailed wig and killed Dolezsar with a 9 mm handgun. However, defense attorneys have been pointing instead at Novak, who previously was sentenced to prison for trying to profit from faking his death. Both Wright and Dolezsar were involved in business dealings with Novak, who was found guilty of wire fraud and spent time in federal prison.

Jonathan Ladd, an English banker and lawyer for whom Pearman-Brooks had worked, was one of the people visiting the couple and said Pearman-Brooks did often misplace things.

"She had extraordinary capabilities in other areas, but keeping track of everyday items isn't one of them," Ladd said. "I've said to people that if her legs weren't attached to her body, she'd lose them."