Seeking Peace, and a Lawsuit

After spending 28 months behind bars, Michael Goodwin, the Orange County businessman accused of plotting the 1988 murders in Los Angeles of racing legend Mickey Thompson and his wife, could soon be freed for lack of evidence.

He isn’t bitter about the time he has lost, Goodwin, 59, said Saturday, a day after a court of appeals ruled that Orange County prosecutors lack jurisdiction to pursue the case.

A younger, hotter-tempered Goodwin might have lashed out at those who sought to send him to prison for life, he said, but “I’ve changed. And hopefully the grace of God will shine on me and give me peace.... Now, I’m still going to sue.”

Speaking from behind a plexiglass wall in the Orange County Central Men’s Jail, one of the principal characters in one of Southern California’s most enduring murder mysteries made it clear the case is far from over.

Wearing an orange jumpsuit and with reading glasses perched on his nose, Goodwin said he would file a “substantial” lawsuit against the Orange County district attorney’s office; the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, which investigated the murders; and Collene Campbell, Mickey Thompson’s sister and one of Goodwin’s main accusers.

Goodwin alleges they pursued him maliciously despite a lack of evidence. Orange County prosecutors have said they have the right man.

Campbell said she was disappointed by Friday’s ruling. But Goodwin “is going to have to meet his judgment day, whether in court or later on,” she said.

Thompson, 59, and his wife, Trudy, 41, were shot execution-style outside their home in the Los Angeles County city of Bradbury.

Goodwin, whose business dealings with Thompson had soured before the murders, soon became a prime suspect. But the case languished without any arrests until 2001, when the Orange County district attorney’s office brought Goodwin before a grand jury and later charged him with the killings. He has been held without bail since his arrest on Dec. 13, 2001.

On Saturday, Goodwin maintained his innocence. He said he had settled his differences with Mickey Thompson long before the murders, and although he may have made disparaging remarks about his former business associate, “that’s different than killing someone,” he said, “and I never threatened him.”

Although the crime happened in Los Angeles County, Orange County prosecutors said they had jurisdiction because, they charged, Goodwin had conceived the murder conspiracy in Laguna Beach, where he lived and worked at the time.

The 4th District Court of Appeal in Santa Ana disagreed. The higher court ordered the charges dismissed, saying prosecutors showed little evidence that the murders were plotted in Orange County. Los Angeles County and state prosecutors who could still file charges declined to comment Friday.

Goodwin’s lawyers said they would seek his release Monday. But he could spend 60 more days in jail until Friday’s preliminary ruling is made formal.

Goodwin said he will devote his life to rectifying the injustices he saw living on the wrong side of jail bars. “I used to be an archconservative Republican who thought if you are in jail you deserved to be there,” Goodwin said. An innocent person in jail -- “I thought that can’t happen in America.”

Goodwin said he would help others in similar situations. He is also working on a book and movie deal, he said.

“I was fortunate; I had a support system, I had money,” Goodwin said. “An average guy would not have been able to beat this.... When Mickey Thompson got killed, that day my life evaporated.... My name will always be connected to this murder. There will always be this cloud over me.”