Daily Journal - Apr 26, 2004
Thompson Ruling
By Dan Evans
Daily Journal Staff Writer
LOS ANGELES - Double murder charges were ordered dropped Friday against Michael Frank Goodwin, who Orange County prosecutors claimed hired two men to kill racing promoter Mickey Thompson and his wife on a Los Angeles street in 1988.
A three-judge panel of the 4th District Court of Appeal in Santa Ana unanimously ruled there was no evidence a murder conspiracy took place in Orange County. Goodwin, of Laguna Beach, has been in custody since his arrest in January 2002.
"This is not a prosecution of an accessory to a crime completed in the prosecuting county," Presiding Justice David Sills wrote in the unpublished decision. "To the contrary, the prosecuting county is not connected with the murders at all. That is the problem."
The Los Angeles district attorney's office investigated Goodwin after the murders in 1988 but declined to prosecute, citing a lack of evidence. A decade later, Orange County prosecutors filed against Goodwin, claiming the murders were planned there. People v. Goodwin, G031285 (Cal. App. 4th Dist. April 23, 2004).
Goodwin and his attorneys said his prosecution was politically motivated, as District Attorney Tony Rackauckas is a friend of Mickey Thompson's sister. But attorney Jeffrey Benice acknowledged he had no written evidence the county's top prosecutor had pushed the case.
Prosecutor David Brent, who filed the original charges against Goodwin, said he was given complete independence.
Deputy District Attorney James Mulgrew said if the office decides not to appeal, further action would have to come from Los Angeles.
Los Angeles district attorney's spokeswoman Jane Robison said her office had no comment.
