A Palm Beach County jury this afternoon found Wellington polo mogul John Goodman guilty of DUI manslaughter, failure to render aid, and vehicular homicide. The conviction comes two years after Goodman sped through a stop sign in Wellington, causing a car crash that killed 23-year-old Scott Wilson. (Read our feature story about the accident here.)
Multimillionaire Goodman prayed, hands clasped together before his head, right before the jury reentered the courtroom. He's still in court at the moment, as the lawyers are discussing the presentencing schedule.
Update: Goodman is about to be taken into custody, facing a possible 30 years in prison.
Update #2: Lili Wilson, Scott's mother, was in tears after the verdict. "Justice has been served," she said. "It's time for the healing process to begin."
Update #3: Not surprisingly, Goodman is going to appeal. His lawyer, famed defense attorney Roy Black, just issued this statement:
"It is our belief that multiple errors were committed during and before
the trial that, in effect, denied our client's ability to get a fair
trial. We intend to file an appeal so that our client can receive the
just and fair proceeding to which he is entitled by law."
Prosecutor Ellen Roberts today called the defense's explanations for the crash "preposterous."
The defense team argued that Goodman's Bentley malfunctioned when he
tried to stop at the stop sign and that the polo mogul was not drunk at
the time of the crash but got wasted by drinking a bottle of liquor
afterward, in a friend's barn.
Goodman testified that he did not see Wilson's car in a drainage ditch
when he walked away from the scene of the crash. "I felt like I had
stayed and assessed the scene and looked around and I didn't see anybody
or anything," he said.
