TALLAHASSEE – Attorneys for John Goodman, a Wellington polo club founder who was convicted of DUI manslaughter and vehicular homicide in October 2014, laid out additional arguments in an attempt to win a reversal last month.
In an appellate pleading filed on Oct. 24, Goodman's lawyers argued that critical errors were made by the judge before and during his retrial by allowing the prosecution's use of incriminating blood test results and certain testimony.
“The lawyers once again took aim at prosecutors for releasing Goodman's smashed $250,000 Bentley from evidence, thereby harming a defense claim that it malfunctioned before slamming into victim Scott Patrick Wilson, 23,” an Oct. 25 Sun Sentinel article said.
Two weeks earlier, the Florida Supreme Court agreed to take up Goodman’s appeal about testing drivers' blood-alcohol levels after traffic accidents, according to an Oct. 17 Sun Sentinel article.
The justices, in a 4-2 decision, said they would hear the millionaire’s appeal in regards to a DUI manslaughter charge in the fatal 2010 crash.
“Lawyers for other DUI defendants across the state surely will be watching to see whether the high court agrees with Goodman that state rules for collecting and analyzing blood are inadequate and violate the rights of drivers charged with driving drunk,” the Oct. 17 Sun Sentinel article said.
The state attorneys claim that experts examined Goodman’s Bentley before the state allowed its destruction, so the defenses argument should not stand.
On the other hand, the defense for Goodman argued that the jurors were deprived the chance to inspect the damaged car.
“Seeing the wreckage, including the driver's side damage, would help support a defense claim Goodman shouldn't have been convicted of ‘failure to render aid’ because he didn't realize Wilson's Hyundai flipped into a dark canal after it was hit,” the appellate attorneys said.
In September, the state attorneys asked that the 4th District Court of Appeal deny Goodman this third trial and also argued that Wilson's death was a direct result of Goodman's actions of driving drunk.
“The state's lawyers called Goodman's trial defenses – the Bentley malfunctioned, and he chugged liquor after the crash – a ‘charade’ and an ‘unbelievable story,’” the Sun Sentinel article said.
Goodman's Bentley Continental GTC convertible ran a stop sign, "barreled through" the intersection of 120th Avenue and Lake Worth Road in Wellington at 63 miles per hour and "smashed into the victim's Hyundai without braking at all," Assistant Attorney General Richard Valuntas said in a written statement.
Valuntas added that having the Bentley in evidence for the retrial wouldn't have changed the guilty verdict.
Goodman's blood samples, which were taken at a hospital three hours after the 1 a.m. crash, showed a blood-alcohol content measuring .177, more than twice the .08 legal limit to drive, along with traces of hydrocodone, which he claimed he was taking for back pain, according to court records.
“Goodman and his trial lawyers had insisted the elevated level wasn't from drinking at three Wellington bars that serve the polo community,” the Oct. 17 Sun Sentinel article said. “He said he took a swig from a liquor bottle inside a polo player's barn office…to allay the pain of a broken wrist and concussion.”
The lawyers also argued the judge should have thrown out the results because of alleged problems with rules on blood collection and testing from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.
While Goodman's appeals are pending, and are likely to remain so until 2017, he continues to serve a 16-year prison sentence.