Zebulon Whisler, originally arrested in January on charges he sexually assaulted a woman after taking her star-gazing on Lazy Mountain, faces a total of 15 counts of first- and second-degree sexual assault after five more women told Alaska State Troopers he pawed or raped them between 2003 and 2009.
At the Palmer courthouse Friday, defense attorney Allen Dayan told Superior Court Judge Eric Smith he had just taken over the case from a state-funded public defender, and requested the trial be pushed back due to the "complexity of charges" against his new client.
Smith agreed to the request, changing the trial date from April 20 to May 18.
Dayan has represented a range of high-profile clients including Lance Hinson, the Anchorage man convicted in 2005 of second-degree murder for the strangulation of Tina Shangin, and a teacher convicted in 2001 for sexually assaulting an 11-year-old girl.
As a teenager living in Oregon, Whisler in 1999 was convicted of three sex offenses against 9- and 10-year-old girls, according to previous news reports. He served 18 months in a sex-offender treatment program and was released when he turned 18.
His first offense in Alaska occurred four months later, according to charges filed against him in late February.
His parents Tina and Dean Whisler -- a state corrections officer -- fought the Oregon charges based on their contention their son didn't fully understand what he was doing because of a genetic disorder, according to previous news reports. They say the current case involves a group of friends who are lying and set up their son.
Whisler, 6 feet 8 inches tall, towered over other handcuffed defendants as he entered the courtroom Friday. His mother flashed him American Sign Language for "I love you" -- thumb, index finger and pinkie extended -- from her seat in the gallery. Whisler flashed the same sign back.
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