Jury Acquits Ex-Officer Goodine: D&H wins trial.
3.1.2008

A jury has acquitted Lawrence Goodine, the former Chattanooga police officer accused of stealing from suspects on the charges stemming from 2006 traffic stops. Mr. Goodine, 27, 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. Jurors listened to four days of testimony in the case and were given instructions Friday evening around 8 p.m. They began deliberating and returned a verdict around 7:15 p.m. Saturday. Defense attorney Lee Davis, throughout the trial, tried to cast Mr. Goodine’s accusers as a rag-tag group of drug dealers who couldn’t be trusted. Executive Assistant District Attorney Neal Pinkston said the fact that Mr. Goodine’s victims took the witness stand and admitted to illegal conduct made their accusations believable. For complete coverage see tomorrow’s Times Free Press.

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