Appeals court says error made in Fresno man’s murder conviction. What happens now?
A 23-year-old Fresno man who was convicted of murder in a 2016 robbery-turned-homicide will get a new trial after the Fifth District Court of Appeal found fault with the jury instructions.
Zachery Goodwin, who was 16 at the time of the killing, was found guilty of second-degree murder for the death of Michael Der Vartanian, 59, of Clovis.
Police said that on Jan. 15, 2016 Goodwin and three accomplices tried to take Der Vartanian’s black Mercedes while he was in southeast Fresno. One of the accomplices, a one-time teenage prostitute, was used to get Der Vartanian to stop his car while Goodwin used a gun to try and force him out of the car.
But the plan fell apart. Der Vartanian saw Goodwin and tried to speed away — surprising Goodwin, who allegedly fired several shots into the car. Der Vartanian was shot in the upper torso and left shoulder. He was taken to Community Regional Medical Center where he later died.
One of the accomplices was sentenced to nine years and eight months and a juvenile received 11 years in the state’s juvenile justice system. The fourth accomplice served her four year sentence.
Goodwin was given a 40-years-to-life prison sentence by Judge John F. Vogt.
His defense attorney Mike McKneely filed an appeal on July 22, 2019 and the Fifth District Court of Appeal ruled in Goodwin’s favor in May of this year.
In its opinion, the appellate court threw out Goodwin’s second-degree murder conviction, saying the jury instructions read by the judge were prejudicial. The court kept intact Goodwin’s conviction of attempted robbery and discharging a firearm into an occupied vehicle.
McKneely said the prosecution failed to offer evidence that Goodwin intended to cause malice by trying to kill somebody.
“The court said this is one of those cases where the jury was not given the right instructions on the requirements for felony murder,” McKneely said “And since there was no other evidence offered to show he had malice, the case had to go back.”
Goodwin was back in court on Monday with McKneeley as his attorney. Prosecuting the case will be Daniel Walters.
Jury selection is expected to start Wednesday.
