After getting the recent news the he couldn't legally adopt his 42-year-old girlfriend, things are looking up for polo king John Goodman — who is currently serving a 16-year sentence on house arrest for a 2010 drunk-driving accident that led to the death of a 23-year-old engineering student.
Lawyers for the disgraced Houston-raised billionaire are edging closer to securing a retrial, claiming that a juror lied during the jury selection process.
Goodman's lawyers says that, in spite of being asked directly, the juror did not reveal his wife's DUI ch arge.
On Monday, an appellate court ordered that original trial judge Jeffrey Colbath re-interview juror Dennis DeMartin, who recently revealed in a self-published book titled Will She Kiss Me or Kill Me? that his wife has been arrested for DUI.
Goodman's legal team says that, in spite of being asked directly, the juror did not reveal his wife's DUI charge. Had they known, they say they wouldn't have selected him.
This is not the first time the retired accountant and his writing have caused controversy.
In his first book, Believing the Truth — a 32-page retelling of his experience as a juror on the Goodman trial — DeMartin details how he attempted his own drinking experiments to see how intoxicated the polo player had been the night of the accident. Unfortunately, he says he never heard the judge's warning to jurors about not conducting their own research.
"I don't remember him saying anything about that," DeMartin told the Palm Beach Post in 2012. "I'm human and that's my mistake. . . I'm 68. What can I say? I'm getting senile."
Judge Colbath announced that he and the attorneys will interview DeMartin on April 29.
Believing in the Truth by Dennis DeMartin
