Dismissal Sought in Racer’s Slaying

Attorneys for a man accused of killing racing legend Mickey Thompson and his wife asked an appeals court Wednesday to dismiss the case, arguing that Orange County prosecutors overstepped their authority by filing charges for killings that took place in Los Angeles County.

Defendant Michael Goodwin’s attorneys contend that Los Angeles County sheriff’s investigators took the case to Orange County because the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office didn’t believe there was enough evidence to prosecute Goodwin for the 1988 murders.

One legal expert called the move an obvious “end-around” prosecutors in Los Angeles. If the 4th District Court of Appeal agrees and dismisses the charges, Goodwin could be released from Orange County Jail, where he’s been held for 14 months while awaiting trial.

Los Angeles sheriff’s officials could then ask Los Angeles County prosecutors or the state attorney general to handle the case.

Thompson and his wife, Trudy, were slain outside their upscale home in Bradbury by two masked gunmen who have never been identified. Goodwin, a former business partner of Thompson, was a suspect from the beginning of the police investigation because he had just lost a bitter legal battle with Thompson that would probably cost him more than $500,000.

The investigation languished for more than a decade while investigators attempted to piece together a case. Sheriff’s deputies arrested Goodwin in November 2001 after Orange County prosecutors agreed to file murder charges.

Orange County prosecutors maintain that they have jurisdiction in the case, alleging that Goodwin plotted the killings from his home in Laguna Beach. Deputy Dist. Atty. James Mulgrew told the appeals panel that a stun gun found at the crime scene matched one that Goodwin kept at his home, evidence that ties the crime to Orange County.

Goodwin’s attorneys said none of the evidence in the murder case is linked to Orange County, and accused Los Angeles sheriff’s investigators of shopping around for a cooperative prosecutor. “There’s no evidence here. Everything that the prosecution has argued in this case is based on the speculation that since the defendant lived in Orange County, something must have been done here,” said Goodwin attorney Jeffrey Friedman.

In November, the appeals court halted Goodwin’s pending trial because of concerns that Orange County may not have jurisdiction. After Wednesday’s arguments, attorneys said they did not know when the appeals court will rule but would not be surprised if the decision took several weeks.

A Los Angeles County district attorney’s office spokeswoman declined to discuss how the office would proceed if the Orange County case is dismissed. Jane Robison, a spokeswoman for the Los Angeles prosecutor’s office, said it has no record of rejecting charges in the case.

It is not uncommon for a crime to include conduct in two or more counties, or even multiple states. But what makes the Goodwin case unusual is that prosecutors in Los Angeles and Orange counties disagreed about whether there was sufficient evidence to take the case to trial, attorneys said.

Goodwin’s defense team contends that there is no evidence that the stun gun reportedly seen at Goodwin’s Orange County home was the same weapon found at the crime scene. Additionally, they said, the stun gun was not fired on the day of the crime. Beyond that evidence, there’s no link to Orange County, they argued.

At the hearing Wednesday, Presiding Justice David G. Sills suggested that authorities may want to take the case to Los Angeles County, where jurisdiction is not an issue.

Prosecutors in Orange County aren’t ready to give up, Mulgrew said.

“We’ve invested a lot of time in taking the case to the grand jury and learning this case,” Mulgrew said. “Our preference is to proceed in this county and I believe we’re entitled to.”

If the appeals court dismisses the case, sheriff’s investigators and Orange County prosecutors would have several options. They could appeal the case to the state Supreme Court or ask Los Angeles County or state prosecutors to file it.

“What’s unusual about this one is it’s so obvious where the appropriate jurisdiction would be and they were doing an end-around,” said Laurie Levenson, a professor at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles. “The mere fact the Orange County district attorney was willing to file doesn’t mean the Los Angeles D.A.’s office should, or will be.”

If Los Angeles prosecutors decline to file charges, authorities could turn to a third option: the state attorney general’s office. Such a move would not be unprecedented. More than two decades ago, a Los Angeles judge refused to allow Los Angeles County prosecutors to dismiss charges against suspected “Hillside Strangler” Angelo Buono and instead appointed the attorney general to prosecute the case. Buono was eventually convicted of nine slayings.

The case against Goodwin is based largely on incriminating statements he is alleged to have made before and after the Thompsons were slain. Additionally, a neighbor of the Thompsons said he saw Goodwin sitting in a car with binoculars about one-quarter mile from the Thompson home in the days before the slayings.

It’s evidence that Goodwin’s attorneys and supporters have discounted for years.

After his arrest, Goodwin and his supporters said they welcomed the opportunity to prove his innocence in court. Now it remains unclear whether the case will ever go to trial.

Thompson’s sister, Collene Campbell, has lobbied for Goodwin’s arrest for years. After Wednesday’s arguments, she said she’s uncertain how things will go.

“There are all kinds of scenarios, and I’m not sure which of them is going to happen. My hope ultimately is we will go to trial and there will be a resolution, and it’s going to be in God’s hands and whatever is right happens,” Campbell said.