By Linda Deutsch
AP Special Correspondent
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Seven years after a former business partner was convicted of killing auto racing great Mickey Thompson and his wife, Trudy, an appeals court is hearing arguments on whether the jury’s verdict should stand.
Michael Goodwin was found guilty after a six-week trial in which prosecutors built a circumstantial case that he had hired two hit men to kill the couple in revenge for a soured business deal.
It has been 26 years since the couple was gunned down in the driveway of their home by unknown assailants who were never caught. The case might have died but for the determination of Thompson’s sister, Collene Campbell, who was convinced Goodwin had arranged the murders. She spent two decades pushing for the trial.
Now, the 81-year-old Campbell says she will be on hand for Tuesday’s hearing before the 2nd District Court of Appeal.
Thompson pursued land-speed records on the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah, drove everything from dragsters and funny cars to midgets, and he popularized off-road contests. His business partnership with Goodwin ended in a bitter legal battle, with Goodwin ordered to pay Thompson $700,000.
Numerous witnesses gave accounts of Goodwin threatening to kill the auto racer, saying he planned to see him dead before he would pay him a dime. Prosecutors showed that Goodwin liquidated his assets around the time of the killings, bought a $400,000 yacht and sailed off with his then-wife to spend three years in the Caribbean and elsewhere. He was arrested in 2001 when he returned to the United States.
Goodwin’s lawyers have filed a 500-page appeal challenging his conviction. His lawyer at trial blamed Hollywood perceptions of the case that created “a folklore” around it.
