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Goodwin Found Guilty in Murders of
Racer
By LINDA DEUTSCH, AP Special
Correspondent
PASADENA, Calif. - Michael Goodwin, a once high-living
motorsports promoter, was convicted of two counts of murder Thursday in the 1988
killings of Mickey Thompson and the racing legend's wife.
The jury also found
that special circumstance allegations of lying in wait and multiple murder were
true. The prosecution has said it will not seek the death penalty.
Goodwin,
who was accused of planning the murders and hiring hit men to commit them, only
shook his head slightly back and forth when the verdicts were read.
Goodwin
was a former business partner of Thompson, a racer who pursued land-speed
records on the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah and drove everything from dragsters
and funny cars to midgets, and was a major figure in popularizing off-road
contests.
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."
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