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Cameron Williams
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Lee Davis
The fate of former Chattanooga Police Officer Lawrence Goodine is in the hands of a Hamilton County jury.
After four days of a testimony, Criminal Court Judge Don Poole handed the case over to the panel of 12 around 8 p.m. Friday. The jurors were scheduled to begin deliberations at 9 this morning.
Mr. Goodine, 27, is accused of stealing from motorists during traffic stops in 2006 and then lying about it while under oath.
He was fired from the department in April and later charged with eight counts of official oppression, eight counts of theft of property and one count of aggravated perjury. A single count of extortion was thrown out by Judge Poole on Friday.
During closing arguments defense attorney Lee Davis called one alleged victim, a “shark,” who would not hesitate to shoot, kill or lie to further his drug trade.
Prosecutors tried to cast Mr. Goodine as a power-hungry rogue police officer who stole from young black males engaged in the drug trade because he knew they would not, or did not know how to, report his wrongdoing.
Mr. Davis said his client was zealous officer who now faces a slew of “junk” charges, brought by a victims who are the dregs of Chattanooga.
“You’ve got to look at what’s happening on the streets of Chattanooga,” Mr. Davis said.
Prosecutors said Mr. Goodine skimmed money from confiscated funds collected during traffic stops. They said his conduct went unnoticed for a while because he skirted normal departmental practice, opting not to use special seizure paperwork that provided receipts to suspects, but rather he submitted the money to the police property room, a process that does not require receipts.
Mr. Davis said there was no corroborating evidence that proved how much money the suspects had when they were arrested.
Mr. Davis said of a man who challenged drug charges and the constitutionality of his traffic stop during a 2006 preliminary hearing never said anything about an alleged theft.
Executive Assistant District Attorney Neal Pinkston and his co-council Cameron Williams told jurors to find Mr. Goodine guilty because even admitted drug dealers deserve justice.
“When you see all the evidence, it shows ... people with prior criminal records, people who are involved in illegal criminal activity can be victims of a crime,” Mr. Williams said.
Adam Crisp covers education issues for the Times Free Press. He joined the paper's staff in 2007 and initially covered crime, public safety, courts and general assignment topics. Prior to Chattanooga, Crisp was a crime reporter at the Savannah Morning News and has been a reporter and editor at community newspapers in southeast Georgia. In college, he led his student paper to a first-place general excellence award from the Georgia College Press Association. He earned ...
