NORWICH – The felony trial of 24-year-old Daniel Sabines of Oxford will continue today as the prosecution wraps up its case against the accused burglar. On Tuesday, Judge W. Howard Sullivan told jurors he expects the trial to conclude sometime today, putting the case of the People versus Sabines in their hands.

According to defense attorney Alan Gordon’s opening statement, Sabines will take the stand in his own defense prior to the trial’s conclusion.

Sabines is accused of going door-to-door in August of 2010, supposedly to gather signatures for a political petition, and alleged to have entered a 22 Beebe Ave. residence he thought unoccupied, with the intent to commit a crime, when he was confronted by the home’s owner.

Sabines – as well as co-defendant Anthony Pierce – has been charged with second degree burglary, a class C felony. Pierce is scheduled to appear in court at a later date.

Assistant District Attorney Stephen Dunshee called a number of individuals to the stand yesterday, including an eyewitness, the homeowner himself, Norwich Police Officers Justin Carpenter and Brandon Clarke, investigator and Deputy Police Chief Raymond Marsh, Police Chief Joseph Angelino and investigator for the Broome County Computer Analysis and Technical Services Laboratory Carl Smith.

In his opening statement, Dunshee laid out the basics of the prosecution’s case, stating the homeowner, John Tripp, startled Sabines while he was “rifling through an upstairs closet ... looking for something to steal” in order to support his drug habit. According to Dunshee, Sabines then fled downstairs and out a back door.

Dunshee said Sabines had admitted, while in police custody, that he entered the residence at 22 Beebe Ave. without permission, to steal something to support his drug habit.

Gordon, in his opening statement, asked members of the jury to “reserve judgment” until they’d heard all the elements of the case. The jury, he added, would have an opportunity to hear from Sabines himself.

According to Gordon, the facts of the case actually go back to the week prior to the alleged break-in, when Sabines met Logan Bell, a former Marine and Constitutional Party member who was seeking a nomination to the House of Representatives. Bell, said Gordon, was looking for people to help him gather the required number of signatures for a nomination. Sabines agreed to help, and would receive $1 per signature for his time and effort. He then recruited Pierce to help gather signatures.