Friday, December 15, 2006

5 YEARS, TO THE DAY, DEFENSE IN MICKEY THOMPSON MURDER TRIAL RESTS: The defense rested yesterday, December 13th, 5 years to the day Michael Goodwin, creator of Supercross racing, was arrested and charged with orchestrating the murders of Mickey and Trudy Thomson. Mickey Thompson was known as the "Fastest Man Alive" as he was the first to exceed 400 mph.

CASE DISMISSED ONCE: The charges against Goodwin were dismissed in 2004 by Orange County authorities when it was learned that key evidence used to arrest and charge Goodwin was false.

THE TRIAL - FORUM FOR TRUTH & JUSTICE: The American system of justice is based upon the premise that the trial is a forum where the truth is revealed and the officers of the court, judges, defense attorneys and prosecutors are sworn "to see that justice is done."

MICKEY THOMPSON MURDER TRIAL - THE ANTITHESIS: Sadly, the Mickey Thompson murder trial, with final arguments slated for Monday December 18th, 2006, has been the antithesis of that goal as prosecutors fought to keep out evidence that tended to point to Goodwin's possible innocence. Those listed below are but a few examples of prosecutor deception.

FALSE EVIDENCE - ERROR OR FRAUD: Detective Mark Lillienfeld, lead investigator in the Mickey Thompson murder trial is a veteran of more than 20 years on the L.A. Police Force, most as a homicide detective, and has handled more than 100 murder cases. He told the court he made an error and "misread" two ballistics reports, the FBI Ballistics Manual, Smith & Wesson's Tech Manual, when he testified on the stand and included in many affidavits that he had evidence showing that Goodwin provided a murder weapon in the Thompson Murder investigation. In fact, he had unequivocally eliminated Goodwin's gun shortly prior to his testimony and preparation of the documents. Is it really possible that this highly respected homicide detective could have made such an egregious misstep in so important an investigation? It was the defense that forced the D.A. to drop the evidence and the detective to admit gross incompetence and not willful deception

WITNESSES WAIT FOR 10 YEARS AND $1 MILLION REWARD TO COME FORTH: There are no reports of most prosecution witnesses informing the authorities for 10 years and not until a $1 million mega-reward was offered. Many changed what they saw/knew dramatically from their original statements to accommodate the L.A. prosecutor's case. Can there be a connection? Are these witnesses being truthful? Were they coached to change their testimony?

PROSECUTORS ELIMINATE PRIME SUSPECT: Prosecutors fought hard and won in their efforts to exclude a "3rd Party Culpability" suspect against whom there is a mountain of direct evidence. This suspect was excluded because he had/has no ties to Goodwin. There can be no doubt this evidence would have affected jury deliberations.

GOODWIN'S "FINANCIAL MOTIVE" WILDLY EXAGGERATED: Prosecutors either did not carefully review the documents in their possession or simply lied about Goodwin's financial condition in 1988, when Mickey Thompson was murdered. Goodwin owned, and still does, the name SuperBowl of Motocross; he owned the valuable Insport agreement permitting him to run AMA sanctioned races in California facilities, including Anaheim Stadium. He owned the Atlanta Fulton County Stadium that produced more than $200,000 in profits for many years. Mickey Thompson did not ruin Goodwin financially as prosecutors allege.

ALLEGATIONS THAT GOODWIN "FLED" THE US ARE FALSE: The Goodwins, both avid SCUBA divers and underwater photographers had planned the trip to the Caribbean for almost a year before the murders. Goodwin's attorney knew his whereabouts at all times and had advised authorities that Goodwin would be available to come back to the U.S.

INVESTIGATION WAS BOTCHED: The original investigator was ordered to drop the best suspect and pursue Goodwin, who was not a suspect at the time. Robbery was erroneously eliminated in spite of evidence that the murders resulted from an attempted robbery.

BIAS COURT: Although many rulings have obviously favored the prosecution, perhaps the egregious rulings were the judges acceptance of extreme attorney/client privileged material for use by the prosecutors, including a letter to Goodwin?s attorney with the subject, ?Strategy in the Thompson Murder Charges.? Another outrageous example was the unprovoked outburst by an associate of Thompson?s sister in the elevator where this person screamed at Elena Saris, Goodwin?s defense attorney that she was lying about several issues during the trial. A juror was also in the elevator. Although Saris filed a motion for a mistrial, the judge denied it, inexplicably.