Court Orders Dismissal of Charges in Racer’s Slaying

An appeals court on Friday ordered murder charges dismissed against an Orange County man who is accused of plotting the 1988 execution-style killings of auto-racing legend Mickey Thompson and his wife.

If upheld, the ruling would force authorities to release 59-year-old Michael Goodwin, a former business partner and bitter rival of Thompson who has been held without bail since his arrest in December 2001.

A preliminary opinion released Friday by the 4th District Court of Appeal in Santa Ana concluded that Orange County prosecutors showed too little evidence to prove they have legal jurisdiction over the murders, which occurred outside the Thompsons’ home in the Los Angeles County city of Bradbury.

“The prosecuting county is not connected with the murders at all,” the opinion said. “That is the problem.”

Lawyers for Goodwin said they will petition for his release Monday, although he probably will remain in Orange County Jail until the ruling is finalized -- a process that could take 60 days.

“He’s beyond ecstatic,” said lead defense attorney Jeffrey S. Benice, shortly after speaking with Goodwin by phone. “As far as we’re concerned, it’s over.... He’s been wrongfully incarcerated long enough.”

Mickey Thompson’s sister, Collene Campbell -- who, with other family members, has spent 16 years fighting to bring her brother and sister-in-law’s killers to justice -- said she was frustrated by the ruling.

“I can’t control what the courts do,” she said. “It’s terribly hard to lose a person to murder, and it’s terribly hard to endure the justice system.”

Thompson, 59, and his wife, Trudy, 41, were shot to death outside their home as they were leaving for work by two gunmen who fled on 10-speed bicycles. Robbery was ruled out as a motive because the Thompsons’ jewelry and $4,000 in cash they had on them were not taken.

Goodwin, whose business dealings with Thompson had soured, soon became a prime suspect.

But the case languished for more than a decade as investigators in Los Angeles and Orange counties chased down more than 1,000 clues.

Citing insufficient evidence, Los Angeles County prosecutors have on several occasions declined to prosecute Goodwin.

But the Orange County district attorney’s office brought him before a grand jury in March 2001 and later that year charged him with the slayings. Orange County prosecutors said they had jurisdiction because, they alleged, Goodwin planned the killings in Laguna Beach, where he lived and worked at the time.

Goodwin’s attorneys said evidence against their client has been stretched or fabricated and that the prosecution was at least partly motivated by the friendship between Orange County Dist. Atty. Tony Rackauckas and Thompson’s sister.

Rackauckas has denied any conflict of interest, and a judge last year rejected an attempt to disqualify him from the case.

Deputy Dist. Atty. James Mulgrew said prosecutors are evaluating whether to appeal Friday’s decision to the state Supreme Court. They have 30 days to decide.

“We’ve always felt there was sufficient evidence for venue in Orange County, so I can’t say that I totally agree with the appeal court’s assessment of it,” Mulgrew said. “Still, I acknowledge it was a close case.”

Even if prosecutors decide not to appeal, Goodwin should not be released until the court’s opinion is finalized, Mulgrew said.

The charges filed against him in Superior Court still stand because proceedings there were delayed for the appeals court hearing, he added.

During a hearing before the appeals court in October, Mulgrew said the crime is tied to Orange County because a witness told a Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputy that a stun gun found at the crime scene resembled one she had seen in Goodwin’s Laguna Beach home 16 years before.

If Goodwin did plan the slayings, Mulgrew added, he would have had to travel from Laguna Beach to hire and outfit the killers and conduct surveillance at the Thompson home.

The appeals court, however, ruled that there was no evidence that the conspiracy to commit the murders or that planning occurred in Orange County.

“It is unreasonable to infer that, simply because Goodwin lived in Orange County, he must have given the murderers a stun gun from his home that may have been seen there two years before,” according to the ruling, written by Presiding Justice David G. Sills.

Neither the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office nor the state attorney general’s office, which could also prosecute the case, commented on the possibility of filing charges.

Thompson, before he became an off-road car-racing promoter, was a well-known driver, becoming the first person to travel more than 400 mph on land in 1960. He set nearly 500 auto speed and endurance records.