A 50-year-old Little Rock man accused of beating a woman unconscious, then holding her against her will while he raped and choked her, dropped a potential insanity defense after a state psychiatrist testified Thursday that he is not mentally ill.
Dean Allen Goodson is charged with rape, kidnapping, second-degree domestic battering, aggravated assault and first-degree interfering with emergency communications over allegations he subjected the 40-year-old woman to an overnight ordeal in July 2015 that began with an argument over the state of their relationship.
He was arrested after he released the woman, whose injuries included a ruptured ear drum, and she went to authorities.
Goodson is also charged with identity fraud over accusations that a month later, while free on bond, he used personal identifying information about the woman to access her bank account, learning where she had relocated.
The woman told authorities she had been trying to keep him from finding out where she lived.
His attorney, Bill James, had been considering an insanity defense, but dropped those plans after the testimony of a state psychiatrist during a 24-minute hearing before Pulaski County Circuit Judge Barry Sims.
The judge set a January trial date for Goodson, who faces a potential life sentence.
Questioned by deputy prosecutor Luke Daniel, Dr. Samuel House with the Arkansas State Hospital testified that while Goodson has some symptoms in common with post-traumatic stress disorder, he does not suffer from the condition.
House, who examined the defendant at court order, told the judge that Goodson's complaints about suffering stress, anxiety and depression show that he was having a difficult time coping with his deteriorating relationship with his accuser.
"I believe he has those symptoms," House said. "I just don't believe they rise to PTSD."
According to court files and police reports, the woman told authorities that Goodson had regularly abused her both physically and verbally during their relationship.
But on that night in July 2015, she said in a sworn statement, Goodson beat her until she was unconscious, rupturing her eardrum.
The woman also said he poured household cleaner in her eyes during the incident, covered her mouth and nose with a towel, kicked her, put his knee on her neck and told her she was going to leave in a body bag.
She said he choked her so hard that she briefly passed out, court filings show. He had locked her in a room, she said.
She fell asleep but was awakened by Goodson raping her with his hand. He also forced her to perform oral sex, she told authorities.
He released her the next morning, but made her put on heavy makeup to cover the marks and bruises he'd inflicted, she said. The woman said she went to a hospital emergency room, and police were called.
According to the psychiatrist's report, Goodson told the doctor that the woman struck first as their argument grew more heated.
She threw his eyeglasses and threw a glass at him. He slapped her hard, but in a self-defensive reflex, he said.
Goodson said that he held the woman down to calm her, then let her go when she regained her self-control, the report said.
Afterward, they had no problems through the afternoon and even discussed their relationship again, he told the doctor.
He never held her against her will as she has claimed and never raped her, he told the psychiatrist.
He also denied the accusations about her bank account, according to the report.
Metro on 08/12/2016