Anthony Goodin
KINGMAN – There was never any doubt or dispute that he brutally murdered his wife in a machete attack in the Kingman Walmart parking lot, so the main question to be answered during a Nov. 14 sentencing hearing was whether Anthony Goodin would spend the rest of his life in prison.
Judge Doug Camacho imposed a natural life prison term for Goodin, 59, rejecting the option of possible parole after 25 years, as urged by defense attorney Paul Amann.
During the sentencing hearing that stretched beyond 2.5 hours, Chief Deputy Mohave County attorney James Schoppmann methodically constructed the framework for Camacho’s decision that the state met its burden of proof regarding the early morning July 12 murder of Lynda Goodin, 53.
The Judge found that Schoppmann established that the homicide was either cruel, heinous or depraved, particularly the “cruel” component because it was clear that Mrs. Goodin suffered physical pain and mental anguish as she survived the parking lot violence before she died following transport to Kingman Regional Medical Center.
Schoppmann used testimony and body camera evidence from the Kingman police sergeant and two officers who arrived to confront and secure the suspect before rendering aid to the victim. The Court also heard the near eight-minute long 9-1-1 call that Goodin made to report his wife was dying in the south end of the parking lot near the Panda Express.
Schoppmann also introduced gruesome images of the victim and her wounds. The pathologist who performed the autopsy, Dr. John Hu, said that Mrs. Goodin died of the cumulation of 34 “sharp force” injuries from the 17-inch-long knife, or machete, that’s blade was 10 inches long and a varying one to two inches in width.
“This was cruel. This was heinous, this was depraved,” Schoppmann said, noting that poor quality surveillance video showed the vicious, ruthlessness of the deadly 25-second assault.
Schoppmann also addressed the defendant’s claims that he was instructed by God to execute a wife who would not submit to her Lord or her husband. Goodin’s biblical babblings were prominent from the initial 9-1-1 call and through confessions to detectives and a handful of court proceedings, including the sentencing hearing.
“His religious, scriptorial gibberish is nonsense,” Schoppmann discounted. “It’s a ruse.”
Dave Hawkins
