Opinion ID: 2999873
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Goodman’s first and second trials

Text: The case against Goodman went to trial twice. In each instance, the facts of the robbery were essentially undisputed; only the identification of Goodman as the perpetrator was at issue. In the first trial, confessed-lookout Smith and store manager Kollath both testified that Goodman robbed the store. The store cashier testified that she could not identify Goodman as the robber and that she chose another person from the police lineup. Goodman also testified on his own behalf. The court declared a mistrial after the jury was unable to reach a verdict. Smith received six years’ imprisonment for his role in the robbery, in exchange for his testimony in the first trial. Ross, who was serving a seventeen-year sentence for being the driver of the second getaway car, contacted the prosecution after the first trial and agreed to testify against Goodman at the retrial and to identify the driver of the first getaway car, in exchange for a recommendation to reduce his sentence. Ross later named Percy Sallis, who confessed that he was the first getaway car driver. At the second trial, Goodman was represented by a different lawyer. Kollath, as well as confessed accomplices Smith, Ross, and Sallis, all testified that Goodman committed the robbery. Unlike the first trial, the store’s cashier, Retzlaff, did not testify because she was on vacation and Goodman’s lawyer failed to subpoena her. Goodman’s counsel erroneously believed that a subpoena was unnecessary because the government would call Retzlaff as a witness. Because Goodman’s counsel failed to demonstrate that Retzlaff was unavailable to testify in person, the trial court excluded portions of her prior testimony from the second trial. So in the second trial, four witnesses, including 4 No. 04-3946 the three accomplices, identified Goodman as the robber, and Retzlaff was not present to testify. Other problems arose for Goodman’s counsel during the course of the second trial. On direct examination, Goodman’s counsel asked Goodman a question that ultimately led the court to allow cross-examination on two of Goodman’s previous armed robbery convictions.2 As the parties had earlier stipulated to Goodman’s status as a convicted felon, in the normal course of proceedings the prosecution would have been precluded from raising the nature of the prior felonies. In addition, prosecution witnesses Mark Smith and Larry Ross testified regarding threats they received concerning their participation in the Goodman trial. While the witnesses acknowledged that the threats were not made by Goodman, nor was he was present when they were made, the witnesses claimed that the threats were intended to prevent them from testifying against Goodman. Goodman’s 2 During direct examination, Goodman’s counsel, while showing Goodman exhibits of guns connected to the crime, abruptly asked, “[D]id you do any armed robberies?” to which the defendant answered, “No.” The prosecution asked to approach the bench, and there was an unrecorded sidebar. Goodman’s counsel then rephrased the question, asking “Did you do the armed robbery at the Marks Big Boy that they accused you of?” to which the defendant again replied, “No.” At the conclusion of Goodman’s direct examination, the trial judge briefly dismissed the jury, and ruled that counsel’s use of the vague term “any” could leave the jury with the mistaken impression that the defendant had never committed any armed robberies, when in fact he had previously been convicted of two robberies. Goodman’s counsel argued that he was clearly referring to the Kohl’s Food Store robbery and another robbery at the Marks Big Boy store for which Goodman was charged but later cleared. However, the court disagreed and the prosecution was permitted to cross-examine Goodman on the issue of which armed robberies he had committed. No. 04-3946 5 counsel objected, asserting that the witnesses’ testimony impermissibly linked Goodman to the threats in the minds of the jurors. The trial court admitted the testimony on limited grounds, stating, outside the presence of the jury, that such testimony would reflect the witnesses’ credibility by demonstrating that they had something to lose as well as something to gain by testifying. Goodman’s counsel later failed to request a jury instruction explaining to the jury the limited manner in which they could use the testimony. In addition, Goodman’s counsel did not object after the prosecution made misleading statements on direct examination indicating that the state had not given Ross any reason to testify, when in fact Ross had agreed to do so in the hopes of receiving a reduced sentence. During closing argument the prosecutor also made false statements improperly bolstering Sallis’s testimony by stating that Sallis could not have been charged or convicted without his voluntary confession while omitting the fact that Ross had named Sallis as an accomplice before Sallis confessed. Goodman’s counsel did not object or request a mistrial. The jury ultimately found Goodman guilty, and he was sentenced to twenty-two years for the robbery and for being a felon in possession of a firearm during its commission. For his testimony and at the government’s recommendation, Ross’s initial seventeen-year sentence was later reduced to twelve years. Sallis received probation, conditioned on six months of work release, for his part in the robbery.