Supreme Court refuses to hear appeal of Florida polo club founder's drunken driving conviction
While their hearts are still broken eight years after their son was killed in a crash caused by Wellington polo club founder John Goodman, William Wilson and Lili Wilson can finally find some consolation.
The U.S. Supreme Court Monday refused to hear Goodman's appeal of his driving-under-the-influence manslaughter conviction and 16-year prison sentence in the death of 23-year-old Scott Wilson. As is typical when cases are rejected, the justices provided no reason.
The decision ends a twisted case after countless hearings, a civil lawsuit, Goodman's adoption of his girlfriend, the conviction of an elderly juror and two separate trials in which jurors reached the same conclusion about Goodman's guilt.
"Final closure may have finally been achieved for the entire Wilson family," said attorney Scott Smith, who represented William Wilson in the civil lawsuit over his son's death. "They will no longer have to endure the agony of the legal process. From the human perspective, it does nothing to lessen the pain of the tragic loss of their son."
Still, he said, at least the divorced couple can be comforted that the 55-year-old millionaire's years-long effort to escape responsibility for their son's death is over.
"The gentleman who killed their son and lied about it is going to be in prison for a long time," Smith said. Goodman's plan to protect his assets by adopting his girlfriend was ultimately derailed by the courts. The heir to a Texas heating and air conditioning empire and others agreed to pay the Wilsons $46 million for the loss of their son.
The Supreme Court was the last stop for Goodman. Previously, he failed to convince a circuit judge, an appeals court and the Florida Supreme Court that a jury in 2014 got it wrong when it _ like a previous jury in 2012 _ convicted Goodman in the 2010 alcohol-fueled crash.
The impact of Goodman's Bentley smashing into Scott Wilson's Hyundai sent the smaller car into a canal where the recent engineering graduate drowned. Both juries also convicted Goodman of failing to render aid.
During both trials, Goodman claimed that his Bentley malfunctioned. He also claimed that he wasn't drunk at the time of the crash but was so upset afterward that he ran to a nearby house where he drank alcohol to calm his nerves.
At his second trial, he also claimed that the needle that was used to draw his blood falsely elevated his blood-alcohol level.
The second trial was ordered after a juror in the first trial wrote a self-published book in which he revealed that he conducted a drinking experiment at home to determine whether Goodman was drunk on the night of the crash. After learning that juror Dennis DeMartin violated his orders not to do outside research, Palm Beach County Circuit Judge Jeffrey Colbath threw out the verdict. DeMartin was found guilty of contempt and served 37 days in jail.
_The Palm Beach Post
