(BEDFORD) – A jury of six men and eight women began to hear testimony Thursday morning in the child molestation case of the State of Indiana versus Brent Goodman.
Deputy Prosecutor’s Allision Chopra and Jeremy Weddle are prosecuting the case for the State of Indiana and Defense Attorney’s Dave Shircliff and Denise Turner are representing the defendant Brent Goodman.
Brent G. Goodman, 49, of Bedford, was arrested in September 2018 on charges of child molesting, a Level 4 felony; child exploitation, a Level 5 felony; possession of child pornography, a Level 6 felony; and vicarious sexual gratification, a Level 4 felony. He posted a $5,005 bond and was released from jail.
Deputy Prosecutor Allison Chopra told the jury in opening statements that the child was a “perfect victim” meaning the boy who was a foster child had been moved in and out of foster homes since he was two.
The crime was not reported until the victim told his step-sister, who then told boy’s father. The father contacted authorities about the abuse that occurred between June 2016 until August 2017.
Defense Attorney Dave Shircliff told jurors during the opening statement if there are two reasonable interpretations of events then the jurors must rule in favor of the defendant. Shircliff implied the crime was not possible because of Goodman’s limited use of his hands and arms due to paralysis in addition to round the clock care Goodman receives from home health care workers and nurses.
The first person to testify was the victim. His testimony continued throughout the morning until mid-afternoon.
Indiana State Police Detectives Brad Stille and Patrick Deckard testified about how the evidence was retrieved from the cell phone and the methods used to extract that data.
There were more than 900 pages of data retrieved from Goodman’s cellphone. The state is focusing on just two images collected from Goodman’s cellphone.
The court recessed at 5 p.m. Thursday and will resume at 8:30 a.m. today.
The jury is expected to begin deliberations later this afternoon.
Brent G. Goodman, of 60 Carver Lane, was arrested in September 2018 on charges of child molesting, a Level 4 felony; child exploitation, a Level 5 felony; possession of child pornography, a Level 6 felony; and vicarious sexual gratification, a Level 4 felony.
In December 2017 a 13 year old boy contacted police and reported Goodman made him expose himself, according to a Lawrence Superior Court I probable cause affidavit.
According to Indiana State Police detectives the child lived with Goodman through foster care from June 2016 until August 2017.
He alleged Goodman made him watch pornography and said Goodman touched him in a sexual manner and took nude photographs of the boy with his cellphone. The boy said Goodman also showed him nude pictures of other boys on Goodman’s cell phone.
After obtaining a search warrant for Goodman’s home, police seized several cellphones. Police found one of the cellphones contained multiple nude images of young males. ISP Detective Brad Stille reported he recognized Goodman’s kitchen and master bedroom in some of the photos. Police also reported Goodman’s phone contained pornographic searches for “teen males.”
