WEST PALM BEACH, Fla., Feb. 13 (UPI) -- Florida prosecutors say businessman John Goodman may be behind the disappearance of evidence in a homicide case -- the car he was driving in a fatal crash.
Goodman's lawyers have asked a judge to dismiss vehicular homicide charges against him because the Bentley Continental GTC convertible was removed from an impound lot and is no longer available as evidence, the (South Florida) Sun-Sentinel reported. The car is with a new owner, but lawyers say it is useless to the case.
Goodman -- founder of the International Polo Club Palm Beach and former president of a family company, Goodman Global Heating -- was convicted in 2012 of causing the death of Scott Wilson, 23, in a drunken crash and received a 16-year sentence. His conviction was overturned because of juror misconduct.
Prosecutors say they cannot prove Goodman's agents posed as representatives of his insurance company, The Chubb Corp., after his trial. But they say Chubb denies its employees made phone calls to the sheriff's impound lot.
Goodman blames a surge in speed by the Bentley for the crash. Prosecutors say he had a blood alcohol level of .177 when he struck Wilson's Hyundai, pushing it into a canal, and that his lawyers had ample time to examine the Bentley after he was charged and their experts spent more than two days going over both cars.
"To now complain about the destruction of the evidence is disingenuous under these facts and circumstances," Alan Johnson, chief assistant states attorney for Palm Beach County, said.
A two-day hearing is scheduled for this month.
