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Murder charge reinstated against former state trooper

homesafetytechpros — Sat, 21 Sep 2024 07:55:25 +0000

Left: Christopher Baldner (Ulster County Sheriff’s Office). Right: Monica Goods (GoFundMe).

A New York State appeals court has reinstated a murder charge against a former state trooper for allegedly causing the death of an 11-year-old Brooklyn girl during a chase. The decision reverses an earlier dismissal issued by the trial court judge overseeing the matter.

In October 2021, Christopher G. Baldner was indicted by an Empire State grand jury on a charge of murder in the second degree for the death of Monica Goods, 11. He was also charged with one count of second-degree manslaughter and six counts of first-degree reckless endangerment. The next month, he was denied bail.

In February 2023, Ulster County Court Justice Bryan E. Rounds dismissed the murder charge, more or less allowing the lesser charges against Baldner to stand; the reckless endangerment charges were cut in half and also reduced to second-degree violations.

New York Attorney General Letitia James, a Democrat, appealed the lower court’s dismissal of the murder charge, which was granted in a 4-1 opinion by a panel of judges sitting in Albany on Thursday.

In the opinion, the Appellate Division of the Third Judicial Department of the New York State Supreme Court cited hard-charging language from the original indictment handed up in the case.

“The grand jury heard that, in September 2019, defendant ‘came out of the woods like the Dukes of Hazard’ in his State Police vehicle, sirens activated, when he observed a minivan speeding at 80 miles per hour,” the opinion reads. “The evidence of the December 2020 incident follows a similar pattern. The grand jury heard from witnesses that, around 11:40 p.m., defendant was ‘see[ing] if he could get one last ticket’ before meeting his partner when he stopped an SUV for speeding.”

The SUV, a Dodge Journey, was being driven by the dead girl’s father. After the traffic stop, the incident quickly escalated.

“[D]efendant began the traffic stop by angrily and profanely accusing Goods of traveling over 100 miles per hour,” the court wrote – crediting the narrative offered by the girl’s father. “An argument between defendant and Goods ensued in front of Goods’ wife and two children, who tried to calm him.”

The court summed up what happened next in exceedingly unflattering terms for the since-retired state trooper, at length:

Witnesses testified that, after defendant stepped away upon Goods’ request to summon a supervisor, defendant returned and, without warning or provocation, pepper-sprayed the passenger cabin of the SUV, and Goods’ wife and two children began screaming in pain. Goods, who had shielded his eyes from the spray, fled the traffic stop; in the commotion, defendant’s pepper spray canister ended up inside the passenger cabin of the SUV.

A frantic and hectic state of things ensued. According to the girl’s father, he drove away instinctively after being pepper-sprayed.

Baldner quickly followed the Goods family in hot pursuit – radioing dispatch that the SUV was “taking off” with his pepper spray.

“During the pursuit, Baldner twice rammed his police vehicle into the rear of the Goods car,” James said in a statement issued when the defendant was indicted. “Upon the second strike, the Goods car flipped over several times and came to rest upside down. The impact ejected Monica Goods from the car, and she died.”

Monica was dead by the time first responders arrived. Her older sister survived the crash – but her family says she was irreparably traumatized and suffered a lost childhood due to the fatal incident.

A GoFundMe for the girl’s family remembers her fondly: “Monica was a smart talented beautiful amazing giggly bubbly little girl. Monica was the most loving and caring person you could meet. She was filled with so much energy.”

The appellate court accepted James’ framing of the incident – and added some key details about the circumstances of each impact.

“[T]he grand jury could infer that defendant saw the SUV falling apart all over the road after he rammed it the first time at 130 miles per hour, permitting the grand jury to find that defendant – aware that the SUV still contained a family of four, including two children, all of whom he had just pepper-sprayed – was callously indifferent to the predictably tragic consequences of ramming it a second time at 100 miles per hour,” the opinion by Justice Sharon A.M. Aarons reads.

In dissent, Justice J.P. Egan Jr. said that Baldner was “doing his job in a reckless and undisciplined fashion” but that his conduct did not rise to the level of “utter disregard for human life.”

The majority, of course, disagreed – noting that even when Baldner used his service vehicle’s brakes during the chase, the reason he did so was to “to intentionally ram the SUV.” Such an act, the court observed, was only allowed under state police rules with a supervisor present – and in Baldner’s case, was of a piece with prior behavior.

“Viewing that evidence in the light most favorable to the People, the grand jury could readily conclude that defendant acted recklessly in both incidents by executing unauthorized maneuvers to end the chases and placing the occupants of the vehicles he was pursuing at risk of death, and it could therefore hand up an indictment charging offenses requiring that state of mind,” the court determined.

James issued a statement praising the court’s ruling:

As a former State Trooper, Christopher Baldner was responsible for serving and protecting the people of New York, but the indictment alleges that he violated that sacred oath and used his vehicle as a deadly weapon, resulting in the senseless death of a young girl.

While nothing can return Monica Goods to her family’s loving arms, this decision from the court will enable my office to continue our efforts to seek some semblance of justice for the Goods family.

We must hold law enforcement professionals to the highest standards, and we will continue our work on this case to ensure that justice is served.

Oppositely, and on Baldner’s behalf, the Police Benevolent Association of the New York State Troopers Inc., a union organization, issued a statement critical of the court’s ruling.

“We strongly disagree with the decision, which we believe improperly reinstated the ‘depraved indifference’ charge,” the union said. “We are deeply concerned that this ruling, if it stands, sets a dangerous precedent that could put a chill on law enforcement officers’ ability to do their job effectively and protect and serve the public. The PBA will continue to support retired Trooper Baldner and cover his legal expenses as he seeks leave to appeal this decision.”

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Hush money trial should be delayed due to media bias

homesafetytechpros — Wed, 27 Mar 2024 06:22:22 +0000

Former President Donald Trump arrives for a news conference on Monday, March 25, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)

Attorneys representing former President Donald Trump recently filed a motion to adjourn his impending New York City hush money trial.

In the 31-page motion, the 45th president’s defense team claims their client “cannot get a fair trial in Manhattan County right now.”

“[N]o fair and impartial jury can be selected in this County at any time in the near future, including in April of this year,” the motion reads. “Therefore, the Court should adjourn the trial date until the prejudicial media coverage subsides.”

The twin hearts of the motion for further adjournment are a poll of New York State residents and an accompanying media study that purport to show publicity has infected the case to the point that the defendant’s “right to a fair trial” has been called into doubt.

According to the motion, 400 residents were polled in New York County and four surrounding counties that make up the suburban outskirts of the five boroughs — which also includes the relatively politically conservative borough of Staten Island.

“[P]otential jurors in Manhattan have been exposed to huge amounts of biased and unfair media coverage relating to this case,” the motion argues, referring to the survey. “Many of the potential jurors already wrongfully believe that President Trump is guilty.”

The motion goes on to cite some “1,223 online news articles between January 15, 2024 and February 24, 2024” which allegedly “provided details regarding the People’s allegations and purported evidence as well as opinions about this case” during the six-week period.

The filing also claims a “significant number” of the articles from the media study in question contain “prejudicial discussion of other proceedings involving President Trump and inaccurate and irrelevant discussions of alleged sexual misconduct” including rape.

According to Trump’s motion, the survey shows 88% of respondents had read or heard information about the “hush money” payments. And, the motion notes in a chart, there were 142 mentions of “hush money” in the articles identified by the media study.

The end result, Trump’s defense attorney’s claim, is that the prospective panel of jurors in the case has been “saturated” by anti-Trump media.

“The Survey and the Media Study provide quantitative force to that research and establish that potential jurors in New York County have been bombarded with online media coverage relating to this case and prejudicial references to other cases and irrelevant matters,” the motion argues. “Moreover, the Media Study does not even capture the incredible amount of prejudicial television coverage, which has been too voluminous to tally.”

The motion goes on to cite additional poll questions and responses that they argue show an “overwhelming bias against President Trump” by residents in New York County — which the motion also takes stock of by including presidential voting data. All this together, the court filing argues, compounds the pretrial publicity issues.

‘The People have sought to make their case a review of President Trump’s victory in the 2016 election,” the motion argues. “We have objected to those efforts in motions in limine, but respondents’ accounts of their voting history sheds light on the improper purpose behind the prosecution strategy.”

While mainly arguing that “significant adjournment is further supported by current prejudicial pretrial publicity,” the filing also references since-dispensed-with arguments that the defense needs additional time to review some 170,000-plus Michael Cohen-related documents recently dumped on them by federal prosecutors.

The filing marks the second time this month that Trump’s attorneys have moved to adjourn his trial on a 34-count indictment over alleged book-cooking in relation to the Stormy Daniels sex scandal.

In early March, attorney Todd Blanche filed a motion to adjourn the Empire State’s case against Trump until the U.S. Supreme Court rules on presidential immunity issues arguably implicated by some of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s recent pretrial motions.

The adjournment motion also takes issue with Cohen’s and Daniels’ appearances in the media. Trump’s attorneys claim the district attorney’s office has improperly sought to boost both of them.

“The fact that President Trump cannot get a fair trial in New York County right now is underscored by recent actions by DANY and its star witnesses, Michael Cohen and Stephanie Clifford,” the motion goes on. “DANY has used strategic leaks to prejudice President Trump since the early days of its ‘zombie’ investigation in 2018.”

While dated March 18, news of the motion to adjourn came fresh off a tripartite thrashing via court orders by Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan earlier on Tuesday — copies of the motion were distributed to the press just moments after three setbacks for the defense were filed on the case’s public docket.

In a quick succession of orders, the ex-president’s attorneys were threatened with sanctions over their too-numerous pretrial filings, the defense was denied a request to unseal certain documents already filed, and Trump himself was subject to a limited gag order.

Trump’s first criminal trial is currently slated to begin with jury selection on April 15 and is expected to last roughly six weeks.

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