NORWICH – After two days of testimony and less than an hour of deliberation, a Chenango County jury found 24-year-old Daniel Sabines guilty of second degree burglary Wednesday.
In August of 2010, Sabines and co-defendant Anthony Pierce were accused of illegally entering a 22 Beebe Ave. residence – with the intent to commit a crime – when Sabines was unexpectedly confronted by the home’s owner.
Pierce is scheduled to appear in court at a later date.
On Tuesday, witnesses for the prosecution – including homeowner John Tripp, Norwich Police Officers Justin Carpenter and Brandon Clarke, Police Chief Joseph Angelino, Deputy Police Chief Rodney Marsh and Broome County Computer Analysis and Technical Services Laboratory investigator Carl Smith – detailed the events of Aug. 16, 2010.
According to witnesses, Sabines – while allegedly gathering signatures for House of Representatives hopeful Logan Bell – knocked on the back door at 22 Beebe Ave. When his knock went unanswered, Sabines went inside, proceeding upstairs, where he was confronted by Tripp. Sabines then fled the home, threw his distinctive red T-shirt and ball cap into the Canasawacta Creek and made his way to the former P&C – now Tops – supermarket. Soon after, he was picked up by officer Clarke, who identified Sabines as a suspect in the attempted burglary.
Clarke then returned to 22 Beebe Ave. with Sabines in custody, where he was identified by Tripp.
Said Tripp, “I immediately recognized him.”
In Sabines’ defense, attorney Alan Gordon said Sabines and Pierce were simply collecting signatures for a political petition. A week prior to the failed burglary, Sabines had met Bell – a former Marine and member of the Constitutional Party – at the Chenango County Fair. At that time, Bell offered Sabines $1 for each signature he was able to acquire. According to the prosecution, Sabines – who’d recruited Pierce to help gather signatures – the petition was a cover for the two to scope out potential residences for burglary.
A series of text messages between the two, submitted as evidence by Assistant District Attorney Stephen Dunshee, provided insight into the day’s events. Of particular interest to the prosecution were a pair of messages sent at approximately 11:45 a.m. on the day of the burglary.
“Where you at? All of Norwich lost power. Let’s get that money. I’m on my way,” stated Sabines in a text to Pierce, to which Pierce replied, “I’m at Kim’s, meet me here. Already [picked] some cribs.”
Later, at approximately 12:45, shortly after Sabines’ unexpected run-in with Tripp, Pierce sent this message ... “Get a shirt [and] take the hat off.”
According to the defense, the “cribs” spoken off were in reference to the homes of potential signatures for Bell’s petition. Dunshee, however, stressed the terminology used, the mention of the day’s power outage and, later, the instructions to change his appearance in an effort to avoid discovery by police.
Due to the efforts of investigator Smith, the prosecution was able to identify the pair of cell phones submitted as evidence as belonging to the two suspects, in addition to retreiving the contents of their text conversation.
Once identified as a suspect, Sabines was placed under arrest and taken to the Norwich City Police station. Deputy Chief Marsh read Sabines his rights, prior to questioning. A written statement, submitted as evidence and signed by Sabines, included the suspect’s admission to having a substance abuse problem, that he had accompanied Pierce – also in custody at that time – in the immediate area of Beebe Avenue. It also said he had thrown his hat and shirt into the creek and – ultimately – that he had entered the home looking for money or items of value to support his drug habit.
In addition, the jury was shown video of Sabines’ questioning by Marsh. In that video, when asked about his intent in entering 22 Beebe Ave., Sabines is heard stating, “To get any kind of money ... support my addiction. To get my next pill, I guess. I was looking to get high.”
Gordon stressed the fact that his client never said the word “steal” during questioning. When he took the stand in his own defense on Wednesday, Sabines testified he had come to Norwich, where he met Pierce, for the purpose of gathering signatures for the petition. He admitted to knocking on the back door at 22 Beebe Ave., although he said he believed someone had told him to come in at the time. He entered, looked for whoever had told him to come in and spent “three or four minutes” downstairs before going upstairs, according to his testimony. When he encountered Tripp, he “got scared and ran away,” he added. His intent, he said, was to get the homeowner’s signature.
In his cross examination, Dunshee confirmed that Sabines had gone to 22 Beebe Ave., entered through the back door – difficult to see from the street, according to photographic evidence – and proceeded upstairs.
Asked Dunshee, “If you had petitions, wouldn’t you knock on the front door ... wouldn’t you want to be seen at the front of the house?”
Sabines replied that he didn’t understand the question, following which he admitted being afraid the homeowner would call the police and to throwing away his shirt and hat in an effort to remain unidentified.
Following closing statements by both the defense and the prosecution, Judge W. Howard Sullivan instructed the members of the jury of their duty. They had three options, according to the judge: a guilty verdict for second degree burglary if they found Sabines had illegally entered the residence with the intent to commit a crime; a guilty verdict for criminal trespass if they found he had entered without the intent to commit a crime; or a verdict of not guilty if they found he had committed no crime.
The jury took the case at approximately 2:45 p.m. and returned with a unanimous decision finding Sabines guilty of the felony burglary charge at approximately 3:30 p.m.