Polo mogul John Goodman's lawyers want a new trial for their client, who was sentenced for DUI manslaughter, failure to render aid, and vehicular homicide after he ran a stop sign and killed 23-year-old Scott Wilson.
The reason the lawyers are seeking a new trial: One of the jurors apparently wrote a self-published book in which he wrote that his wife was once busted for DUI.
Sounds reasonable enough to start anew.
Goodman's attorneys say juror Dennis DeMartin, 69, failed during jury selection to disclose this information about his wife that he included in his book Will She Kiss Me or Kill Me?
DeMartin also wrote a self-published book about the trial itself in which he experimented with booze and drank three vodkas and tonics to see just how drunk Goodman was the night of the accident.
The motion released by the attorneys reads, in part, "jurors were specifically asked whether 'anyone in the panel themselves, close friend or family member or someone that affects you, has ever been arrested, charged or convicted or accused of a crime.'"
The lawyers want to question DeMartin about his book and will ask that the verdict be tossed if they find he lied to them during the initial jury-selection interviews.
According to the motion, DeMartin specifically said he knew no one in his family who had been arrested for any reason.
They say if DeMartin had disclosed the information about his wife, they would never have agreed to his being on the jury.
Goodman was sentenced to 16 years in prison. He is currently under house arrest on a $7 million appellate bond.
His blood-alcohol level on the night he crashed into Wilson with his car was recorded at .177, more than twice the legal limit of .08.
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