Mickey Thompson murder trial update

The Fresno Bee reports that "court will be in session through Thursday and if there is no verdict by then, jurors will resume deliberations January 2nd."

Dave
http://www.roadsters.com/

 

Thanks for the update
steele

 

Mickey Thompson murder case goes to the jury

Associated Press

December 19, 2006

Pasadena – The case against a former business partner accused of murdering racing legend Mickey Thompson and his wife in 1988 went to the jury Tuesday.

The panel got the case after more than a month of trial in which prosecutors presented a circumstantial case against defendant Michael Goodwin.

In closing arguments Monday, defense attorney Elena Saris said prosecutors created a “Hollywood version of events” that could not be supported by evidence, and asked the jury to acquit her client.

Saris argued that there was no evidence to support the claim that Goodwin hired killers or planned the crime almost two decades ago.

Goodwin, 61, was Thompson's partner in the motocross business until their association dissolved into bitter legal battles that left Goodwin owing Thompson a judgment of more than $700,000.

Prosecutors say Goodwin's anger led to the March 16, 1988, murders, carried out by two unknown killers on bicycles who rode into the gated Los Angeles suburb of Bradbury and shot the couple outside their house.

“Michael Goodwin was being financially crippled by Mickey Thompson and he wasn't used to it,” Deputy District Attorney Alan Jackson told jurors in his closing argument.

But Saris said it's unknown what really happened.

“The killers were never found. The reason they want you to convict is that someone has to pay. It's a terrible crime. There's a rip in the fabric of society when someone is murdered,” she said. “But this is not about closing a case by having a Hollywood unsolved mystery ending.”

Court will be in session through Thursday and if there is no verdict by then, jurors will resume deliberations Jan. 2.

The case grew cold for years until Thompson's sister, Collene Campbell, persuaded authorities to reopen it and look at Goodwin as a suspect. He was arrested in 2001 and has been jailed since.

Thompson, a posthumous Motorsports Hall of Fame inductee, took part in numerous auto sports ranging from seeking speed records to driving dragsters, stock cars, and sprint cars, among others.

 

Well friends, we are nearing the finish line of this long endurance race for
justice and we are certainly hoping for a checkered flag. Mickey and Trudy
deserve some kind of a win, they were wonderful people and left a lot of
great memories that we cherish.

Monday, December 18, will be about our 90th court appearance and
is the last day of trial for the murders of Mickey and Trudy. The closing
arguments will probably be completed in one day and the case will then be in
the hands of the jury. The court will be closed beginning Friday until
after the first of the year, which leaves the jury only three days to return
a verdict before the holidays.

We are approaching our nineteenth Christmas with Mickey and Trudy's seats at
our holiday table remaining vacant..yes, it truly has been a long race.

Regardless of what the out come, we thank you for caring and for all the
wonderful support with emails and phone calls.

We wish you a wonderful holiday season and a fantastic New Year.

Our kindest regards and appreciation,



Gary and Collene Campbell

 

Jurors reconvene in race star murder case

Associated Press

Wednesday, December 20, 2006

Pasadena, Calif. Jurors are meeting in Pasadena for a second day of deliberations in the trial of a man accused of ordering the slayings of auto racing legend Mickey Thompson and his wife in 1988.

Yesterday saw the dismissal of an alternate juror that the judge said had taken her jury notebook home with her.

That leaves five other alternate jurors who could be called in to replace any of the 12 jurors if necessary.

Michael Goodwin is charged with the murders of Thompson and his wife and the special circumstances of lying in wait and multiple murder.

The Thompsons were shot outside their home by two killers who escaped on bicycles and were never found.

Prosecutors say Goodwin engineered the murder in retaliation for an adverse judgment in a business dispute.

Goodwin's defense says he's innocent and that prosecutors had no evidence.

 

Pasadena jury wants testimony read back in Mickey Thompson case

The Associated Press

Wednesday, December 20, 2006

Pasadena

Jurors deliberating in the Mickey Thompson double-murder case asked Wednesday to have testimony by seven witnesses read back to them.

The panel asked to hear again testimony from four prosecution witnesses and three defense witnesses in the case against Michael Goodwin, 61, a former business partner of Thompson.

Thompson, a legend in motorsports, was shot to death along with his wife, Trudy, 41, on March 16, 1988, outside their home in the Los Angeles suburb of Bradbury.

Goodwin, who owed a $700,000 judgment to Thompson after their partnership in the motocross business soured, was arrested in 2001 and charged with murdering the couple. Prosecutors say he arranged the killings, which were carried out by two killers who successfully got away on bicycles.

The request for readbacks decreased the likelihood of a verdict this week. The jury was scheduled to return to court Thursday. If no verdict, deliberations would not resume until Jan. 2. The jury also requested a half-day on Jan. 2 because of a juror's appointment.

 

Wow! I had no idea this was going on. I didn't even know anyone had been arrested.

 

Jurors in Thompson murder trial review accountant's testimony

Associated Press

Pasadena, Calif. Jurors in Pasadena ended a third day of deliberations in the motorsports legend Mickey Thompson double-murder case yesterday without a verdict. The panel doesn't meet again now until January second.

During yesterday's deliberations, panelists listened again to testimony from three prosecution witnesses in the case against Thompson's former business partner Michael Goodwin.

They heard from an accountant who detailed the lavish purchases the now 61-year-old Goodman made around the time Thompson and his wife were killed in March 1988.

Also read back to the jury were the testimonies of a couple claiming to see Goodwin near the Thompsons' home a few days before the killings.

Goodwin was a partner of the racing legend in the motocross business until their association ended in bitter legal battles that left Goodwin owing Thompson more than 700-thousand dollars.

 

Jurors in Thompson case on holiday hiatus

From Los Angeles Times Staff and Wire Reports

December 22, 2006

Jurors deliberating in the case of the 1988 killings of racing legend Mickey Thompson and his wife recessed Thursday for the holidays.

On Jan. 2, they will resume consideration of two murder charges against Michael Goodwin.

Goodwin, Thompson's former business partner, is accused of planning the slayings.

Mickey and Trudy Thompson were gunned down on the driveway of their Bradbury home. The gunmen have never been identified.

 

Thanks again for the updates.
Dave

 

A conviction would be a great way to bring in the new year. I hope justice is served.

 

Only if the presented evidence proves "beyond a reasonable doubt" that this Goodwin fella is guilty.

We've been having a rash of folks released from jail lately that were convicted and did time for something they didn't do when new evidence proved they were falsely accused.

How would you like to spend 20+ years of your life in the slammer being somebody's bitch for something ya' didn't do?

And then on the other hand.................there's OJ.

 

Jurors to resume deliberation in Thompson case

They will decide whether Michael Goodwin ordered the 1988 slaying of a former partner and his wife as a result of a bitter dispute.

By John Spano, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

January 2, 2007

Michael Goodwin, brash creator of the motor sport of super-cross and a relentless self-promoter, was certainly a "jerk," his lawyer conceded recently.

He was also an "egomaniac." A "braggart," too, she said.

But the question, which jurors return to this week, is not Goodwin's character but whether he killed his former partner, racing legend Mickey Thompson, and Thompson's wife, Trudy.

As jurors resume deliberations after a holiday break, they will do so without some of the most intriguing evidence the defense and prosecution tried to present about the slayings.

The judge excluded as irrelevant, confusing or prejudicial the sighting of a long-haired blond man near the scene of the killings and possible links to the earlier slaying of Thompson's nephew.

Prosecutors also dropped a witness who had testified that Goodwin bragged about getting away with murder.

In March 1988, Thompson and his wife were fatally shot in the driveway of their Bradbury home by two men who fled on bicycles and were neither caught nor identified. No physical evidence from the crime scene implicated Goodwin in the killings, and no direct evidence was presented that he hired the killers or planned the ambush.

A parade of witnesses testified that they had overheard Goodwin repeatedly threaten Thompson, a former business partner turned hated rival who had bankrupted Goodwin with a successful lawsuit.

Deputy Public Defender Elena Saris argued that the circumstantial nature of the case opened the door to other theories in the slaying. Early in the Thompson investigation, one of hundreds of tips Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department investigators received concerned Joey Hunter, who had distinctive long, blond hair, according to court records.

Several witnesses said they had seen Hunter hitchhiking with a bicycle not far from the crime scene, within an hour of the slayings, according to court records.

A relative said Hunter had confessed to her, the records said, and he flunked three polygraph tests. But Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Teri Schwartz ruled that because investigators never made a case against him, Hunter's story was irrelevant.

Saris protested.

"You're taking a case that is purely circumstantial and telling the jurors they can only hear one circumstance," Saris said at a court hearing.

But her argument failed. Schwartz said the potential for wasted time, confusion and jury prejudice was too great.

"To say that the people's case is weak doesn't mean the defense gets to put on anything the defense thinks," Schwartz said during the hearing.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Alan Jackson won the Joey Hunter round but lost the Gail Hunter go-round (no relation). Gail Hunter, Goodwin's onetime girlfriend, testified at a preliminary hearing that Goodwin had played her a videotape of one of the 10 television treatments of the case and told her he got away with the killings because he was smarter than police.

But when the trial began, she went from star witness to non-witness. The defense won access to Hunter's medical records, which showed her to be "a psychiatric patient with a substance-abuse problem," according to court records, and Jackson did not call her to testify.

But perhaps the most intense evidentiary battle centered on a defense theory that the man who earlier killed Thompson's nephew had masterminded the racer's death.

Scott Campbell was killed and his body was thrown from an airplane in 1982 in what police alleged was a drug-related killing. Thompson testified against Campbell's alleged killer, Larry Cowell, whose first conviction was overturned on appeal. While Cowell was awaiting retrial, he arranged for the subsequent killings in order to block Thompson from testifying again, the defense argued in court papers.

Saris identified two hit men who had been convicted of other contract killings within six months of the Thompson slayings, according to court papers. Jackson, the prosecutor, in a court hearing called the Cowell theory "wild speculation." The judge agreed.

The defense also wanted to tell the jury about alleged meddling by Thompson's politically connected sister. Collene Campbell, the former mayor of San Juan Capistrano and Scott Campbell's mother, fervently believes Goodwin made good on repeated threats to kill her brother. She hired a private investigator and offered a $1-million reward.

The defense contended she used her political influence to get the Orange County prosecutor to file murder charges against Goodwin five years ago, court papers said. An appeals court threw out the Orange County case, ruling in 2004 that the charges were based on "guesswork, speculation and conjecture."

The passage of time has made it difficult to find relevant new evidence in the Thompson slayings. Witnesses' memories of the events are nearly two decades old. How sound the jurors consider the recollections to be could be the key to the deliberations.

The only person who said she saw the killing, Allison Triarsi, then 14, testified she had a clear view from her nearby window of a gunman shooting Trudy Thompson in the head while her husband looked on. The testimony was key to proving Goodwin's alleged motive, vengeance.

Now a television news anchor in Minneapolis, Triarsi bristled when asked in court last month if her memory had faded. "I think as I get older I recall better and better what happened," she said.

 

Jurors have testimony read back in Mickey Thompson murder case

Associated Press

Pasadena, Calif. - After a holiday break, jurors deliberated Tuesday in the case against a man accused of having racer Mickey Thompson and his wife murdered nearly 19 years ago.

The jury heard a readback of trial testimony during the session.

Mickey and Trudy Thompson were shot March 16, 1988, outside their home in suburban Bradbury.

Michael Goodwin, 61, is charged with the murders, and the special circumstances of lying in wait and multiple murder.

He was a partner of Thompson in the motorcycle racing business, an association that ended in bitter litigation won by Thompson.

Goodwin's defense maintains he is innocent and that prosecutors only presented a theory and no evidence.

The jury recessed for the holidays Dec. 22, after three days of deliberations.

 

Jury verdict to be read in killing of racer Mickey Thompson, wife

Linda Deutsch

Associated Press

Pasadena, Calif. - A jury reached a verdict Thursday in the trial of a one-time high-living racing promoter accused of having racing legend Mickey Thompson and his wife murdered in 1988.

Michael Goodwin was charged with two counts of murder with special circumstances and faced life in prison if convicted. The verdict was to be read sometime Thursday morning.

Goodwin was a former business partner of Thompson, a motorsports figure who pursued land-speed records on the Bonneville flats in Utah and drove everything from dragsters and funny cars to midgets.

The killing of Thompson and his wife, Trudy, seemed to be the ultimate "cold case," but it did not die because of the efforts of Thompson's sister, Collene Campbell, who insisted that investigators pursue the case for more than 18 years.

In the beginning, it seemed to be the perfect crime. Two unknown assailants on bicycles penetrated the gated confines of Thompson's home, shot him and his wife as they left for work, then escaped through a wooded area where a car could not have traveled.

Neighbors described hearing screams and seeing two men pedaling away. One neighbor actually tried to shoot at them but was too far away and too late to do any good. The men were never seen again.

As years passed without strong evidence, the case was considered closed. But Thompson's sister, a former mayor of San Juan Capistrano with wide political connections, pressed authorities to reopen the murder case and look at Goodwin as a suspect.

Eyewitness identifications didn't help much. The only witness to see the killings was a 14-year-old girl who testified at the trial. As an adult she claimed her memory of events was good, but defense attorneys questioned that. A couple who claimed to have seen Goodwin casing the area with binoculars before the killings did not come forward until 13 years after the crime when they saw a TV show about it that they said triggered their memories.

At the six-week trial, Goodwin's attorney presented testimony from a psychologist who said memories fade quickly and suggested that a 13-year-old identification would not be trustworthy.

Lacking direct evidence, the prosecution put on a strong circumstantial case, alleging that Goodwin arranged the March 16, 1988, slayings of Thompson, 59, and his 41-year-old wife as revenge for a soured business deal. They showed that Goodwin and Thompson entered into a partnership to stage motocross racing events - a business that failed.

The partnership disintegrated into a bitter legal battle and Thompson, who claimed he was cheated, won a legal judgment of more than $700,000 against Goodwin.

They showed that Goodwin, 61, liquidated his assets around the time of the killings, bought a $400,000 yacht and sailed off with his then-wife to spend three years in the Caribbean and elsewhere.

Goodwin was arrested in 2001 when he returned to the United States and has been held without bail.

His lawyer contended he was innocent and that the killings occurred during a robbery attempt. The defense contended Goodwin was a victim of false assumptions and of TV shows that created a "folklore" and prompted people to come forward with unsubstantiated accounts.

Numerous witnesses gave accounts of Goodwin threatening to kill Thompson, saying Goodwin confided he planned to "waste him," "take care of him" and see him dead before he would pay him a dime. One witness reported hearing Goodwin say: "I'll kill him. ... I can get it done for 50 grand."

His own attorney acknowledged that Goodwin may have been "a jerk," but said he was not a killer.

During every day of the trial, Thompson's sister sat in court with her husband, Gary Campbell, and stared at Goodwin.

"This has been a long endurance race for justice," she said when the trial began. "We don't plan to drop out till we get to the finish line."

 

Verdict Reached In Mickey Thompson Trial

NBC

Los Angeles -- Jurors have returned a verdict in the murder trial of Michael Goodwin, who is accused of orchestrating the killings of racing legend Mickey Thompson and his wife. The verdict will be read by 11 a.m., according to the District Attorney's Office.

Prosecutors are not seeking the death penalty for Goodwin.

During the trial, Deputy District Attorney Alan Jackson told jurors that Thompson and his wife were executed in the driveway of their Bradbury home by Goodwin, Thompson's one-time business partner, on March 16, 1988.

"This was not a robbery. This was a professional execution, plain and simple," said Jackson, who noted that nothing was taken from couple, including a diamond necklace Trudy Thompson was wearing when she was killed.

Goodwin, who has been jailed without bail since his December 2001 arrest in Orange County, was tried on two counts of murder, along with the special circumstance allegations of lying in wait and multiple murder, for the shooting deaths of the 59-year-old off-road racing legend-turned-promoter and his 41-year-old wife.

Goodwin, 61, is accused of having the couple killed outside their home in the gated San Gabriel foothills community east of Monrovia after a business dispute stemming from the 1984 merger of their companies was resolved in Thompson's favor. The judgment against the racing and one-time concert promoter amounted to nearly $750,000.

Jackson told jurors that Goodwin was stealing money from Thompson from the day they signed a contract to work together.

"Michael Goodwin was siphoning off the top and out of the pocket of Mickey Thompson," Jackson said.

But Goodwin told friends he had no plans to pay Thompson back, Jackson said, adding that Goodwin told one associate that "before he (Thompson) sees a dime I'll have him wasted."

"Michael Goodwin was never, ever, ever going to pay Mickey Thompson a dime he owed him," Jackson said.

Thompson and his wife were gunned down in their driveway by two men, who escaped on 10-speed bicycles and were never identified. Described as black men in their 20s, the gunmen wore dark, hooded jogging suits and hid in some shrubbery until the couple emerged about 6 a.m. to go to work at the Anaheim Stadium offices of Mickey Thompson Entertainment Group, according to authorites.

Jackson said the slayings were particularly brutal, with the gunmen shooting Thompson several times but keeping him alive. The men then positioned Thompson so he could see his wife, who was being held down at gunpoint, Jackson said.

"Once they were in a position that they could see each other and Mickey Thompson could clearly watch, the second gunman ... fired a bullet through her brain," Jackson said.

"Mickey Thompson's last vision on this planet was that of his wife being executed," he said.

Jackson also said the killing was well planned, noting that the gunmen were able to escape by using an obscure bike path.

"If you're going to commit a crime in Bradbury, you have to know how to get in and how to get out," he said.

The case against Goodwin was originally brought by prosecutors in Santa Ana, who had argued that the alleged murders were planned in Orange County, where Goodwin lived. However, an appellate court panel found that Orange County lacked jurisdiction to prosecute, and the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office filed its case against Goodwin in June 2004.

Goodwin's lawyer, public defender Elena Saris, called the case against Goodwin "naked suspicion" by authorities.

"This is a story of a brutal murder and a botched police investigation," Saris said, noting the police never properly investigated the case as a possible robbery and did not genetically test a hair found at the scene.

The accounts of the shootings also took on a Hollywood element that "has no basis in reality," Saris said.

In reality, when examined carefully, the case against Goodwin "falls like a house of cards," Saris said.

Saris acknowledged Goodwin and Thompson were involved in bitter civil litigation and that her client refused to pay on a judgment.

"You might not think of this as honorable behavior, but it's not evidence of murder," Saris said.

The trial's first witness, former Pasadena police Cmdr. Bill Wilson, testified that after he left police work he became the general manager of events at the Rose Bowl. He said he later moved to a similar position at what was then known as Jack Murphy Stadium in San Diego.

While in San Diego, Wilson dealt with both Thompson and Goodwin, whom he encouraged to work together in promoting Supercross racing and sharing costs of bringing the dirt needed for the races to and from the stadium, Wilson said.

Two months before the killings, Wilson said he invited Goodwin and his wife to a social gathering at his Poway home. Wilson testified he was stunned when Goodwin told him in a loud voice that Thompson was "killing me, he's destroying me, he's taken everything I've got."

Goodwin then said, "I'm going to take him out," Wilson testified.

Wilson said he told Goodwin, "Nobody wins that, Mickey's dead and you're in prison."

Goodwin replied, "Oh no, I'm too smart for that, they'll never catch me," Wilson testified.

Wilson said he was upset that Goodwin "was going to kill a friend of mine." But he said he did not tell the authorities what Goodwin told him.

"I just didn't want to believe he would do something like that," Wilson testified.

Wilson said he learned of the killings while listening to the radio about two hours after they happened.

Thompson was the first person to break the 400 mph sound barrier at the Bonneville Salt Flats and was inducted into the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America in 1990.

 

is it 11 yet?

C'mon, Jurors. Please stick this bastard in a hole for as long as he draws wind....

 

how long does it take for jurors to read a verdict?

 

Well...it IS california.

 

The NBC story above has just been edited to read, "The verdict will be read Thursday, according to the District Attorney's Office."

Dave
http://www.roadsters.com/

 

DAMMIT!

this is like waiting to find out who killed J.R.

 

Is the ketsup out of the bottle yet? Come on!

Any bets?

 

In California? Probation.

 

abc7.com has one line in breaking news that says goodwin was convicted. Finally

 

GUILTY !!!

http://www.nbc4.tv/news/10671503/detail.html?dl=headlineclick

 

yeah!!!!!!!

 

now we wait for the appeals process, we should know if the conviction will stick in about 10 years

 

A good end to a sad sad story. Especially the way the murders were carried out.

 

Rest in Peace Mickey and Trudy.

​

 

Goodwin Found Guilty In Mickey Thompson Murder Trial

From NBC News 4 in Los Angeles:

A former racing promoter was convicted Thursday of orchestrating the 1988 slayings of auto racing legend Mickey Thompson and his wife in front of their Bradbury home.

Jurors convicted the 61-year-old Michael Goodwin, Thompson's former business partner, on two counts of first-degree murder on their sixth day of deliberations.