A man who was briefly a Chattanooga police officer waived a formal reading of the first-degree murder charge against him and is heading toward trial.
Lawrence Goodine, 44, appeared Friday in Hamilton County Criminal Court in front of Judge Barry Steelman. Goodine is also charged with aggravated kidnapping, aggravated burglary, tampering with evidence and violation of a no-contact order.
He is accused of strangling his girlfriend, Kara Akins, 48, on Nov. 28. Akins’ death was ruled a homicide by manual strangulation and blunt force head injury.
Her body was extremely battered, prosecutors said at a March hearing. Police found her naked next to a Christmas tree in her home, and an almost empty 1.75 liter plastic bottle of vodka was on the coffee table next to her.