Carroll County Circuit Judge Kent Crow has granted permission for DNA testing on crime-scene evidence from a slaying that occurred in Green Forest 20 years ago.
In 1996 Belynda Goff was convicted of bludgeoning her husband, Stephen Goff, to death and sentenced to life in prison.
Stephen Goff was killed in 1994 in the entryway of the couple's apartment. At the time, only Belynda Goff and the couple's 3-year-old son were home. Police found no signs anyone had broken in and no murder weapon, but trace amounts of Stephen Goff's blood were discovered on the underside of a shower drain-plate.
Belynda Goff refused a plea bargain and has always maintained her innocence, even after her appeals were denied.
In December, Karen Thompson, a lawyer with a New York-based nonprofit, The Innocence Project, filed a request on Goff's behalf to conduct DNA tests on evidence found on and near Stephen Goff's body. Thompson says that if tests find a DNA profile that doesn't match Belynda or Stephen Goff, it would undermine Belynda Goff's conviction.
Thompson filed the petition under 2001's Act 1780, which grants convicted defendants the right to request forensic DNA testing on evidence not previously tested after the direct appeals process has been exhausted.
Carroll County Prosecuting Attorney Tony Rogers appealed Goff's request, arguing that Arkansas criminal procedure makes no allowance for post-conviction claims of innocence.
At a March 31 hearing, Crow delayed the decision, giving both parties 21 days to file supplementary arguments.
That same day, Belynda Goff "received a minor disciplinary," according to an email sent by Arkansas Department of Correction inmate attorney Sharon Draper to Thompson.
Goff was then transferred on April 22 from the Hawkins Center for Women in Wrightsville, where she had lived for eight years and participated in programs such as Paws in Prison, to a more secure facility in Newport.
According to Thompson, Goff's infraction was owning two pairs of reading glasses, when only one pair is allowed -- a rule Goff said she wasn't aware of. Thompson wrote Mary Williams, assistant warden of the Department of Correction, asking that the transfer be reversed.
"Federal courts have long held that prison officials may not transfer or threaten to transfer a prisoner in retaliation for the exercise of his or her constitutional rights," the letter says.
"The whole move started with the paperwork, the exact same day of the hearing. ... If it's not retaliation, it's just very bad timing," Thompson said.
No one from the Department of Correction responded to Thompson's request.
Department of Correction spokesman Shea Wilson said Goff was one of several inmates transferred because of "institutional need" to free space for inmates with shorter sentences who may be eligible for work release.
On Tuesday, Crow issued an order granting permission for DNA testing at a private laboratory in Texas at the Innocence Project's expense.
If Rogers seeks a stay against the order, he must file a request with Crow within five days. Rogers did not return four requests for comment left Tuesday with his secretary.
Thompson said the lab may be able to provide the DNA test results by the end of June. The presence of unknown DNA could result in a judge setting aside the conviction, issuing a new sentence or ordering a new trial, she said.
State Desk on 06/04/2014