goodwin found guilty in mickey thompson murder!
 

hot off press...........! goodwin has been found guilty in calif. court for the 1st degree murders of mickey thompson and his wife trudy!

justice prevails! hang the bastard or give me the bullet for the firing squad!

probably will get life at the pelican bay country club SMU(special mgmt. unit). which for your info is modeled after arizona dept of corrections SMU in florence, az. we make and pay for really nice prisons here after the TYSON GANG escaped years ago.

DO ARIZONA...............DO TIME!

Glad that finally there is some justice in this. RIP Mickey...

That drunk Goodwin used to live in a trailer park down here in Dana Point. I know someone who had to deal with him continuously. Its not like he had a life anyway... now he can rot.

Sweet. My good friend is making the Mickey Thompson bio-pic as we speak.

I haven't followed the case other than what's been in the mainstream press. You guys have any inside info that he did it?
I guess the jury believes so...and that's enough. Rest in Peace, Mickey...one hell of a hot rodder!

Details, Denis? This must really impact his project, although we all knew this would happen sooner or later.

My friend John Bilecky is directing the documentary feature film, they acquired the rights to his life story from his living relatives, I guess. He has been at the trial almost every day, he met and interviewed Goodwin several times in jail.

I was supposed to tag along w/ him to the trial one day, but I got lazy and didn't follow-up on it. I grew up going to criminal trials to watch my Dad in action, this one did not strike me as very thrilling w/ nothing but circumstantial evidence in it. Oh he is guilty, make no mistake about it; but he nearly pulled off the perfect crime if it wasn't for his big mouth and bigger ego. The shooters got away clean, never got jammed-up in an unrelated murder case and gave him up, etc.., so there was no exciting evidence or witnesses. (They were reportedly Jamaicans brought in specially for the job).

This is the biggest deal that Bilecky has ever done, I used to work for him in production 20 years ago when he was one of the foremost car photographers in the advertising biz. He was just segueing into filming commercials when I met him. He is a great guy, I hope that he hits a homer on this.

Here is the Variety story on it, his company is Bandito Brothers:

http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117955997.html?categoryid=13&cs=1

Micky Thompsom will always be a icon in automotive history in the US. His cars and exploits will last forever in the anals of magazines and books.

We were going to Mickey Thompson's house the day that happened to pick up a race car that my buddy just bought. We get to Bradbury I think was the name and police are all around the place. It was such sad news especially after getting to know what a good guy Mickey Thompson was. Its a good thing they finally got Goodwin.

I use to go to all the offroad races at the stadiums and one night at Anaheim Stadium 2 of the exhibition dirt dragsters was there to get people excited about a race there next weekend or the next night. They guys windshield was muddy from the offroad cars and Mickey Thompson was standing near me and took the shirt off his back to wipe the guys windshield for him. He was one of the best.

Re: goodwin found guilty in mickey thompson murder!
 

They've announced that they will not seek the death penalty.

there are 3 standout guys in off road racing . mickey thompson who was as we all know, hell bent on winning any venue entered, or breaking down big time.

walt lott who i got to know real well from the MINT 400's and the HDRA race series. he was a big man that really went out of his way to help others anytime anyplace. gave me some shock hoops, brand new, for my class 7 mini pre-runner, out of his garage one day.

and sal fish who has pointed SCORE in the direction of world class racing.

this trial has gone on forever and my friend in baja knew him very well. some of mickeys feats are truly NUTS! he is sorely missed by alot of us. not just for the showmanship but for the un damn real vehicles he came up with to conquor baja. they were all eng. marvels that had everybody thinking out of the box.

Not saying Goodwin is not guilty, but the evidence reported as presented, sounded pretty spotty for a "beyond reasonable doubt" verdict. Was there some really damning thing? or just the deal gone bad/lawsuit?

He all but took out a billboard saying that he did it, plus there were some damning cell phone records from his boat as the hit went down that somehow were not admitted into evidence.

There was no one else w/ motive, and he had 100% motive plus threatened to do exactly what he did. MT was terrified for his life and anticipated the hit. Unless the real OJ killers did it, Goodwin is guilty.

What was the motive?

I seem to remember two guys on bicycles were seen leaving the crime scene. The police thought those were the actual trigger-men, with Goodwin contracting the hit. Any word on them?

Motocross promoter Michael Goodwin had ranted to friends and associates that he wanted Thompson dead. Then he plotted the 1988 killings and planned his escape to the Caribbean on a yacht, Los Angeles County Deputy District Attorney Alan Jackson said during his opening statement.

Although Goodwin was known for bravado, two witnesses said he clearly wasn't joking when he made a death threat against Thompson a month before the murders.

Bill Wilson, former general manager of the Rose Bowl and Jack Murphy Stadium, testified that at a dinner party Goodwin said, "F---ing Thompson is killing me. He's destroying me and trying to take everything I've got. I'm going to take him out."

Wilson's wife, Nina, corroborated the statements. The Wilsons testified that Goodwin bragged, "Nobody will pin it on me. I'm too smart for that."

According to Jackson, Thompson won a lawsuit against Goodwin that totaled $793,069 with interest and court costs. Then, when Goodwin filed for bankruptcy, Thompson sued to get his money back. That case was supposed to go to trial two days after the Thompsons were killed.

"Mickey Thompson was crushing Michael Goodwin under the weight of the court system and Michael Goodwin would not tolerate that," Jackson said.

(Taken from a November 2006 article written by Tori Richards)

Rumored to be contracted off-shore, possibly Jamaicans or other Carribeans A lot smarter than using local gang members who will turn on a dime to save themselves a death sentence in another case, or just brag about the hit to some other lowlife who gives them up in jail, etc...

Like I said, almost the perfect crime if Goodwin wasn't such a loudmouth ass hole. When you want to kill someone, keep your mouth shut! Pretend you're not even mad at them. Apparently he never watched The Godfather Part II. ;)

Goodwin is (was) a big sailboat guy, I'm sure that he met the right people to facilitate that type of contract hit in his travels. He was known for sailing around the sunny parts of the globe and spending a winter or two in Aspen skiing.

The shooters were in the wind the day of the hit, w/o a doubt. :cool:

What was the Thompson/Goodwin lawsuit about?

I read on one site about Thompson's nephew being killed, whazzupwitdat?

http://www.justiceontrial.org/articles/murder_timeline.htm

Here is a story that appeared several months ago that I posted..

http://www.laweekly.com/general/features/murder-on-the-last-turn/14781/

What about the cell phone records were so damning? After all if they don't know who did it, then they don't know if the calls mean anything.

I guess that I've been watching to many Law & Order shows....

Lack of physical proof didn't impede Thompson jury
A preponderance of evidence pointed to Goodwin's guilt in the murders of the racing legend and his wife, jurors say. The defendant's attorney vows to seek a new trial.
By Tami Abdollah, Times Staff Writer
January 6, 2007


A day after a Pasadena jury convicted Michael Goodwin of murder in the deaths of racing legend Mickey Thompson and his wife, jurors said they had no problem reaching guilty verdicts, despite a lack of physical evidence tying the defendant to the murder scene.

"There was never anybody that said, 'No way, there's no way,' " said Mark Matthews, 52, the jury foreman. "We never had to convince anybody that he was guilty. We only had to make sure we were following the law correctly."

The Thompsons were gunned down in the driveway of their home in the eastern Los Angeles County community of Bradbury on March 16, 1988, by two hooded gunmen who escaped on bicycles. The killers were never identified; Goodwin was charged with planning the murders.

With many mysteries still surrounding the case, observers had wondered if the jury would be able to reach unanimous verdicts so long after the crime.

"I could not have ever believed that 12 people would consider this proof beyond a reasonable doubt, and I continue to be stunned," Deputy Public Defender Elena M. Saris said.

But jurors said the judge's instructions clarified how they viewed evidence during six days of deliberation. For example, jurors said that before joining the trial many of them did not know that circumstantial and direct evidence could be weighed equally in making their decision.

"All our understanding of the legal system [was] based on television shows," Matthews said. "People think that every single fact has to be proven and DNA-ed and stamped, that it has to be an open-and-shut, gun-in-hand and blood-on-the-T-shirt kind of case, which this obviously wasn't."

Only one previous ballot was taken the day before Goodwin's conviction, and that resulted in a single not-guilty vote and two undecided votes. However, after rereading the jury instructions and discussing the evidence, jurors said, the three voted with the majority.

The murders of Mickey and Trudy Thompson fascinated the media and were the subject of "America's Most Wanted" and other television shows. Saris argued that the time between the crime and the trial, along with the "Hollywood treatment" of the case, had hopelessly tainted the memories of witnesses, some of whom did not come forward for years. "They have no killers, no plan, no meeting, no weapon, no phone calls, no payout, no nothing," she said.

The prosecution presented testimony from a dozen witnesses that Goodwin had threatened to kill his former racing-promoter partner, as well as evidence that Goodwin had nearly been bankrupted by a $514,000 court judgment in Thompson's favor.

Jurors said they methodically sifted through evidence and believed that there was a preponderance that pointed to Goodwin's guilt.

"There were so many reasons in everyone's mind that it would be a logical, reasonable deduction to say, 'Who else?' " Matthews said. "You know what I mean? Who else?"

Juror Bob Briggs, 69, said it was the "collective weight" of the evidence, not a single piece, that determined the case.

"We didn't have to connect Michael Goodwin to the murderers," Matthews said. "We just had to believe that he planned the murders, that he aided and abetted them. We didn't have to have the smoking gun."

Goodwin, 61, will be sentenced to life in prison without parole. The defendant, who has been in jail for the last five years without bail, hung his head Thursday when the verdicts were read and said "I didn't do it" twice, according to Saris.

Saris said she would ask Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Teri Schwartz for a new trial and, if that fails, Goodwin would appeal to a higher court. Goodwin was "tremendously disappointed and incredibly frustrated" by the verdicts but has faith the truth will come out, Saris said.

Laurie Levenson, a professor of criminal law at Loyola Law School, said judgments based on circumstantial evidence are often the norm in murder cases. "The evidence is still not proof beyond all doubt, it's just proof beyond a reasonable doubt. You don't have to dot all the I's or cross all the Ts, or have 'CSI' evidence to win a murder conviction."

The trial and deliberations left the four-man, eight-woman jury emotionally frayed and mentally exhausted. Two jurors cried as the verdicts were read.

"It's the hardest decision I've made in my life, and hopefully the hardest decision I will have to make," said one of the jurors who cried. She identified herself as Trudy, 50, but declined to give her last name.

Briggs also said it was important to remember that jurors are not allowed to discuss the case or view media reports on it while it is pending.

"All we can go on is the testimony that comes out of that box by people who are under oath," he said. "So all this other stuff that people want to bring up, as to why you didn't think about this or that, we don't know about that and it's designed that way. So all I can say is, 'Excuse me, all I know is what I was told I could use and it's just that simple.' Hopefully you would have come to the same conclusion we did."


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
tami.abdollah@latimes.com

"Preponderance"! Just because there was no other suspect? Good thing (for OJ) that OJ didn't have these guys. "Let's convict the person brought to trial because he/she is the only suspect the police have and he made several threats"?

I don't know, but that doesn't sound good enough to me to convict someone for life or possibly capital punishment.

You are absolutely correct, if OJ had this jury he would be in San Quentin right now. Even though I have zero doubt about Goodwin's actual guilt, they convicted him on some weak evidence and now they are blabbing to the newspaper about their apparently emotion-based verdict. If I was the defense lawyer, I'd be having a field day right about now. She must have been weaker than a popcorn fart in the eyes of the jury.

Sentencing was today.

Life in prison. No parole.

RIP, Mickey.


http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1172813123.jpg





Tim

If OJ had had almost ANY jury other than the one he had, he'd have played his last game of golf a decade ago!

OJ tried to talk to my ex on the golf course a few years ago, (they are acquainted but she hates him), she screamed, "Get the fuch away from me! I never liked you BEFORE you killed your wife!!"

Quite the scene... but I suppose he's used to it.

I almost always agree with you Denis but I'm in the habit of poking people when they're offbase and that's what I think here. If you know that the only evidence they had was the threats and the absence of another suspect, then I'd say you are correct. I'll bet you they had more than just this to consider. Betcha.

One more thing. Based on what I know about this case, I hope Goodwin gets a big black horny boyfriend in the Big House.