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Fatal shooting ruled manslaughter
18-year-old gets 10 years probation, no jail time
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Dylan Goodman was originally charged with two counts of murder and three counts of aggravated assault, but walked out of court Wednesday with 10 years probation with no time to serve.

Goodman, 18, pled guilty to involuntary manslaughter and pointing a gun at another. The plea resulted from an agreement between Atlantic Judicial Circuit Assistant District Attorney Melissa Poole and Goodman’s attorney Brandon Clark. The case was to go to trial this week.

Goodman was charged for the death of Joshua Moore, 25, of Freedman Grove Road and shooting Bobby Phillips on March 9, 2011.

The courtroom was hushed as Goodman testified about the shootings at Phillips’ Fleming home around 7:22 that evening.
Phillips, who was shot in the back by Goodman that night, shares the home with Jimmy Fullwood. Both testified on Goodman’s behalf.

Goodman said he was playing a video game when someone came to Phillips’ front door. He said it took him a few seconds to recognize Moore.

“And I asked him (Fullwood), ‘is he allowed to come in,’” Goodman said. “And he (Fullwood) said, ‘No.’”

Goodman said Moore was acting, “funny.” Goodman got a gun that Fullwood kept in his vehicle.

He said Moore had taken Phillips in the bathroom to talk, but emerged enraged when Fullwood ordered him to leave.

“I heard him say ‘I’ll take him out and the little one too,’” Fullwood testified.

“At that point, I knew he had to go,” Fullwood said. “I told him, ‘Get the hell out of my house now.’ As soon as I said that, he came out of that bathroom and started chasing me through the house. I went towards the bedroom where I knew I could get to the .22 (rifles) and get to a gun.”

“He came in and he was incoherent,” Phillips testified. “You could tell he was high on something. Normally, I could talk to him. He respected me. He always called me sir. But he wasn’t the Josh Moore I knew that night.”

Goodman, Phillips and Fullwood all testified that Moore chased Fullwood to the back room, where Moore tried to break down the door, shoving and kicking it.

“We constantly said, ‘Get out, we don’t want you here,’ and nobody wants a person that is under the influence like that in their home,” Phillips said. “…I never saw the gun Dylan had. I just heard the shot. Josh had on a large parka coat with a hood on it, and we didn’t know if he had a weapon or not, but I know that if he would have got into that room that he would have bludgeoned Jimmy to death … Dylan was scared to death that he was going to hurt Jimmy and he had the door just about open.”
Phillips said he was still trying to calm Moore down.

“But when I ran, he grabbed me and Dylan accidentally shot and it hit me in the back. Josh never stopped kicking at the door. The gunshots, it’s like he never heard them. Then Dylan fired two more shots and Josh went to the floor.”

Goodman’s father Harold testified he arrived about 10 minutes after Fullwood called him. Harold Goodman said case files reported Moore had a blood alcohol level of .146 and was found to have cocaine and two other drugs in his system.

“Being in the military 20 years I know that if somebody has that much drugs in their system there is nothing you can do with them,” Goodman said.

The prosecutor said the Moore family was not pleased with the plea agreement. The judge allowed Moore’s wife to take the stand. Crying, she testified about her husband and their three children.

“I know Josh wasn’t perfect, but nobody is and he didn’t deserve this,” she said. “It’s not fair that I have to do this alone. It’s not fair that my boys play sports and their dad can’t be there to help them. And my daughter will never remember who he was. I don’t think the judicial system worked the way it was supposed to. I don’t think you should be able to shoot someone in the back and be able to walk out of the courtroom with no time.”

Even Phillips had kind words about Moore.

“I certainly didn’t want Josh to be killed,” Phillips said. “Josh was a good person. He loved his wife. He loved his children. That is all he ever talked about.”

Liberty Superior Court Judge Robert Russell said, “I find that this meets the definition of involuntary manslaughter which is that you caused the death of a person without the intention to do so.”

Goodman was sentenced to 10 years probation for involuntary manslaughter and 12 months, to run concurrent, of probation for pointing a gun at another. He has three years to pay a $1,000 fine and must serve 80 hours of community service.

As a condition of his parole, he is to have no contact with the Moore family.


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