Killers for Hire (11 page)

“You may consider motive or lack of motive as a circumstance in this case. Presence of motive may tend to establish the defendant is guilty.”

“The flight of a person after the commission of a crime … is not sufficient in itself to establish his guilty, but … if proved, may be considered by you in the light of all other proved facts in deciding whether a defendant is guilty or not guilty.”

And, the most damning of all: conspiracy = murder:

“It is not necessary to show a meeting of the alleged conspirators or the making of an express or formal agreement.”

“It is not a defense to the crime of conspiracy that an alleged conspirator did not know all the other conspirators. The members of a conspiracy may be widely separated geographically, and yet may be in agreement on a criminal design and may act in concert in pursuit of that design.”

The prosecutors never showed a meeting between Goodwin and the gunmen and now it looked like it wasn’t necessary.

Goodwin sat still, as did the lawyers. The jurors took notes and looked intently upon the judge. Then Jackson stood for closing arguments, as usual looking every inch the glamorous leading man in the biggest drama Los Angeles was staging that day. His stylish dark hair was meticulously gelled and he wore the lawyer’s traditional navy suit and red tie. He summed up the case right out of the gate:

“This case is about a man whose ego was so fragile; countenance and character so shallow he could not and would not face down a rival fairly and squarely. In the 80s, Michael Goodwin was used to winning at all costs but he couldn’t win at any cost against Mickey Thompson. Financially, professionally and personally he was crippled and humiliated by Mickey Thompson and he wasn’t used to it.”

Jackson wasn’t done with his theater. He got on his knees to demonstrate how Trudy likely tried to fend off her attacker during the final moments of her life.

Then he attacked Saris’ case.

“Where’s his alibi? The defense could’ve called any witness they wanted to prove an alibi for Mr. Goodwin,” he said.

Next came a retelling of the lawsuit and Goodwin’s numerous threats against Thompson. These again went up on the large screen. He talked about Goodwin’s escape to the Caribbean and his intricate financial maneuvering that left him with $500,000 in an offshore account. Lastly, he ridiculed the robbery theory.

Alan Jackson in court
photo by Gene Blevins

“The last thing you want to do if you thieve a house is to ride a bicycle … so let’s go thieve a house, let’s go when everyone is home!” Jackson said sarcastically. “The last thing a robber or burglar wants is to run into the residents. But these idiots, according to the defendant, go up at 6:05 AM.”

Saris finished up as she began, a dynamo packaged in a small frame who vehemently believed in Goodwin’s innocence.

“Ladies and gentlemen, he is telling you the Hollywood version of events … the truth of what happened in this case, we don’t know. The killers of Mickey and Trudy Thompson have never been caught, identified or arrested. They want it to be this man—why? Because someone has to pay. There is a rip in the fabric of society when someone is murdered; it screams out for justice …You can call this man a jerk, an egomaniac and a braggart, but you have to prove he’s a murderer.”

Saris pointed out that there was no evidence linking Goodwin to the killers and no evidence showing that he committed the crimes: no phone calls, payout or documentation.

When the closing arguments are finished, the attorneys pack up their files and head back to their respective offices to wait for word from the jury. It could take days or weeks, or, in the case of O.J. Simpson, a few hours. This time it was three and a half complete working days spread out over a five-day period, wrapping up the morning of Jan. 4.

Jackson called Lillienfeld, waking him up. The detective was out all night at a murder scene and had only been home for a few hours to get some sleep.

“I am just glad they reached a verdict,” Lillienfeld said upon arriving at the courthouse. “I don’t want to have to try this thing again.”

Danny Thompson raced up the 605 Freeway toward the courthouse, car radio tuned to the news, just like 19 years ago. The same hollow feeling was in the pit of his stomach.

The courtroom was standing room only. Goodwin walked in with his trademark reading glasses perched at the end of his nose. Half the female jurors were crying, and one held her head in her hands. The atmosphere was extremely tense. The only sense of serenity came from Goodwin’s nemesis Lillienfeld, who sat in the front row, leaning forward with his chin on his hands and a half smile on his face.

Schwartz announced that she would read the verdict. Hundreds of witnesses, thousands of clues and untold investigative hours later, Goodwin’s fate hung on just four sentences.

For the crime of murder in the first degree against Mickey Thompson, the jury finds Michael Frank Goodwin guilty
.

For the crime of murder in the first degree against Trudy Thompson, the jury finds Michael Frank Goodwin guilty
.

The special circumstance of lying in wait is found to be true
.

The special circumstance of multiple murder is found to be true
.

Under California law, it meant life in prison. Goodwin shook his head and looked down at the counsel table, mouthing the words, “I didn’t do it.”

Court observers sat in a stunned silence. Campbell was dry-eyed by now and stared straight ahead with her jaw clenched. One of the jurors continued to cry, looking at Goodwin.

Saris later bemoaned the fact that she couldn’t present all the evidence during trial.

“There were other suspects in this case and the judge did not let us tell the jury about it,” she said. “If the jurors had heard all the facts, they would’ve come to a different conclusion.”

The victory was not surprising, Jackson said.

“I wasn’t shocked because I knew the evidence was there,” he said. “It was an enormous sense of relief and satisfaction after 19 years.”

Added Dixon: “I wish Elena would answer me this question. He told everyone he was going to kill Thompson. Why is it a surprise?”

Alan Jackson & Patrick Dixon (L to R)
photo by Gene Blevins

Several of the jurors spoke to the media, saying the evidence was overwhelming. They were bothered by the missing $20,000, Goodwin’s over-the-top personality and the death threats. Acquittal was never discussed during deliberations; they knew he was good for something. In the end, it was the jury instructions regarding conspiracy and motive that did Goodwin in, they said.

Lillienfeld stood off to the side talking to Jackson, uncomfortable being part of the limelight.

“I’m happy,” he said simply. “We got a bad guy.”

Michael Goodwin in court
photo by Gene Blevins

The day Goodwin was convicted Lillienfeld worked well into the night, making it about two days since he had any real sleep. The verdict attracted national media attention, bringing more potential witnesses out of the woodwork. The case was still open because the shooters were out there somewhere, so Lillienfeld kept working. Throughout the rest of the week, he continued to chase down his leads—about 20 in all. Most of them led nowhere, but a few looked promising.

Lillienfeld speculated that the shooters had East Coast connections and were likely introduced to Goodwin by his brother, Marc, who lived in Miami at the time. The killers are probably back in Florida or possibly New York, Lillienfeld said.

“I’m convinced they’re still alive,” he added.

The day of Michael Goodwin’s sentencing finally arrived on March 1, 2007. Goodwin entered the courtroom wearing a dark, sage-colored suit with his reading glasses. He glanced briefly at the crowd and grimaced.

Judge Schwartz told the packed courtroom that the evidence was overwhelming and the jury verdict proper. Then she allowed statements by Collene Campbell and Goodwin himself. Lillienfeld sat in the jury box, directly in the line of sight of his nemesis—boring a hole into Goodwin with his steady gaze. Goodwin couldn’t help but see the detective’s expression was like that of a Cheshire Cat. Satisfaction. Victory. Pleasure. Retribution. Good winning out over evil. A chess game of wits in which he, Lillienfeld, came out the winner. Not every murder case ends up that way.

Goodwin started a rambling dissertation:

“All I’m saying is that I have condolences for Mrs. Campbell and her family. I can’t apologize because I’m not guilty of the crime. I was convicted of being guilty, but that is different than being guilty. And truly, only myself and whoever really did it will ever know who did this crime. Nobody else will know but myself and whoever is really guilty. And this will be, I’m afraid, a never-ending story because we plan on appeals all the way through.

“And hopefully the truth some time will come out. I believe we can get the exposure of witnesses that were bribed, threatened by the police that you don’t know about and that couldn’t come up in the trial. That the truth can come out and you’ll find out that I was not guilty. And hopefully we will also find the true killers,” he said.

His words rang hollow; no one in that courtroom believed he was sorry that Thompson was dead. Though he was thinner, grayer and weaker, the same bold, cocky veneer was evident. Only this time it simmered just below the surface instead of erupting into a full-blown tirade.

Schwartz was ready to wrap things up. It was the moment Campbell had been waiting for every night of her life since March 16, 1988. The judge imposed two sentences of life without parole, as mandated by state law. But the questioned remained: Would the terms be concurrent or consecutive? Schwartz took a breath and continued.

“The court will find that because of the way these crimes were carried out—the premeditation, the deliberation, the separate acts committed on two helpless individuals—the court has discretion in the matter but can think of nothing more than a consecutive sentence. Or nothing less than a consecutive sentence in this matter…the total sentence is life without parole plus life without parole.”