WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – A Palm Beach County judge has delayed the sentencing of a Wellington polo mogul who was found guilty for the second time in a 2010 crash that killed a recent college graduate.
Judge Jeffrey Colbath said Wednesday that he would wait until Friday to make a decision while he considers a request by defense attorneys to release John Goodman from jail on bond while they appeal his conviction.
Goodman, 51, was convicted last month of DUI manslaughter and second-degree vehicular homicide in the February 2010 death of Scott Wilson, 23.
It was the second such conviction for the International Polo Club Palm Beach founder after the outcome of his 2012 trial was overturned because of juror misconduct.
Prosecutors claimed Goodman was intoxicated when he crashed his Bentley into Wilson's Hyundai in the early morning of Feb. 12, 2010, after a night of drinking. Wilson's car plunged into a canal, where the University of Central Florida graduate drowned.
Evidence during the trial showed that Goodman racked up a bar tab of about $272 in the hours before the crash and that his blood-alcohol level was twice the legal limit.
Goodman admitted to taking two tequila shots and having a vodka drink at the Players Club, but he denied being intoxicated.
Instead, defense attorneys claimed a disoriented Goodman left the scene to find help and stumbled upon a polo player's shed, where he drank a bottle of liquor to calm his nerves.
Defense attorneys also presented testimony from a former NASA rocket scientist who claimed Goodman's Bentley malfunctioned, accounting for the high-rate of speed at which it collided with Wilson's car.
"He had his whole life ahead of him," Lili Wilson said of her son during Wednesday's sentencing hearing.
Goodman sat quietly in court as the mother of the man he left to drown spoke about the opportunities her son will never have.
"By losing his life at such a young age, he was deprived of many things people take for granted," she said.
Sentencing guidelines call for a minimum of 11 years in state prison. He was initially sentenced to 16 years in prison before his convictions were overturned.
Prosecutors are seeking the same sentence for his most recent conviction.
"The state is asking that the sentence be no less today because, frankly, the crime is just as horrible today as it was then," assistant state attorney Sherri Collins said.
However, defense attorney Douglas Duncan called it an "isolated incident in Mr. Goodman's otherwise exemplary life."
Defense attorneys are planning to appeal and want the judge to grant him an appellate bond.
Prosecutors called Goodman a flight risk because of his wealth, but his attorneys said Goodman is no longer wealthy. Prosecutors also want him to pay restitution for the cost of prosecuting him, which they said is more than $100,000.
Because of the intense publicity surrounding the trial, jurors were chosen in Tampa and brought to West Palm Beach, where they were sequestered at a hotel for the lengthy trial.
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