Sunday, December 16, 2012

Michael Goodwin, creator of the sport of Supercross, was convicted in 2007 of the 1988 murders of off-road racing legend, Mickey Thompson and his wife. He alleges "prosecutorial misconduct, on an unprecedented scale," lead to his wrongful conviction. Goodwin has always maintained his innocence and prosecutors in Orange County, where the charges were initially filed but later dismissed on jurisdictional grounds, and in Los Angeles, where he was convicted in a lengthy trial, were never able to tie Goodwin to the murderers or the murders. 

Goodwin has been incarcerated since December of 2001 and is now serving two life sentences without parole at Corcoran State Prison.  Although Goodwin appealed the verdict immediately following sentencing by L.A. Judge Teri Schwartz who presided at his trial,  the appellate brief was not filed until late November, nearly six years later.  Goodwin's court appointed attorney, Gail Harper, was finally successful in filing an "oversized brief" of 472 pages, nearly 100,000 words, far larger than the court would normally allow. 

When advised that Harper had been successful at overcoming initial court objections to the massive appellate brief, Goodwin said, "I am happy to see that the appeal is finally, after six years, filed.  I am encouraged because there are more than two dozen strong denials of due process pled that I just can't imagine the 2nd District Court of Appeal denying."  Goodwin went on to say, "For any one of those, they are required to reverse the conviction.  I'm confident that we will prevail as these proceedings continue." 

Of the extraordinary scope of the brief, Goodwin said, "The reason the appellant brief is so voluminous is the exceedingly gross amount of outrageous government misconduct in the case committed, specifically by the 2012 candidate for the Los Angeles District Attorney's office, Alan Jackson, de-facto lead prosecutor in my trial."  While Pat Dixon, past Head Deputy, Major Crimes at Los Angeles County District Attorney's office, was technically lead prosecutor, Jackson was the prime mover during the trial, according to Goodwin.

"In short," Goodwin continued, "what has occurred here is that the government was allowed to lie and distort as much as they wanted to, yet the defense was restricted from even presenting true facts into evidence or refuting the prosecution's lies and frauds."  Circumspect, Goodwin said, "Nevertheless, I am honored and thankful that the court allowed my attorney the extra space to refute the many lies and frauds that led to my wrongful conviction."

When Goodwin learned today that the District Attorney Elect, Jackie Lacey, who soundly defeated Alan Jackson for the office of L.A.D.A. on November 6th, he said, "My confidence is underscored by Ms. Lacey's announcement of her decision to reassign Jackson from his prestigious, high-profile position to a job where he will no longer try cases.  In my trial, Jackson was guilty of the most extreme, repeated, felony, criminal acts, all completely provable.  I am glad that he will not be in a position to wrongfully convict others." 

Goodwin is in the process of filing other actions that he is confident will lead to his exoneration and release from prison. "I'm on cloud nine," he said, "because I'm much closer to proving to the world that I had nothing to do with the Thompson murders."