EAST POINT, Ga. — The retrial of a former East Point police officer accused of sexually assaulting a 15-year-old girl has been handed over to the jury.
Channel 2’s Tyisha Fernandes was in the courtroom on Friday as prosecutors and defense attorneys delivered their closing statements and the judge handed the case to jurors.
Jurors will begin their deliberations on Tuesday morning, after the Labor Day holiday.
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Part of the state’s closing argument is the Richard Gooddine preyed on victims who were troubled, like a 15-year-old who admitted to experimenting with drugs and fighting with her family.
Prosecutors says he also chose a woman who he arrested for shoplifting and already had a record. They say he assaulted her in the backseat of his patrol car.
“The evidence has shown he didn’t target them by accident because, for Gooddine, their very vulnerabilities are why he targeted them,” Assistant District Attorney Julianna Peterson said.
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They pointed to surveillance video that they say shows Gooddine arrived at the hospital in uniform. He arrived less than 10 minutes after the victim arrived to report that she’d had been assaulted by him.
Defense attorneys say he was only there to use the restroom after nurses and security told him to leave.
“If the only reason why Gooddine was there was to use the bathroom, why didn’t he leave?” Peterson said. “Because that’s not why he was there.”
The defense says the case lacks evidence.
“When you apply the principles of reasonable doubt, the evidence in this case, the state’s case falls apart. It does not become clear,” defense attorney Amanda Clark-Palmer said.
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