Catherine GoinsA television camera will be allowed into today’s unified appeal hearing in the Catherine Goins murder trial.
Catoosa County Judge Ralph Van Pelt decided to allow WRCB-Channel 3 and WTVC Channel 9 to film the proceedings despite an ardent objection from Goins’ defense counsel.
Goins’ attorney, Jerilyn Bell, from the Office of the Georgia Capital Defender, said that given the case’s already high profile and the circumstances, which open the possibility for further notoriety, television cameras shouldn’t be allowed in the early stages.
“Cameras would infringe on the due process rights of Ms. Goins,” Bell said.
Goins, of Hixson was arrested in September in the slaying of Natalia Roberts, a mother of two. At the time, investigators with the Catoosa County Sheriff’s Office believed Goins may have killed Roberts to take her children and portray them as her own in an effort to win her boyfriend back.