Bond revoked for Enola convict in Circuit Court
Bond was revoked for Marvin Goodsell on Wednesday night after a 4-hour hearing in Judge David Reynolds' Division 2 court.
Reynolds had allowed Goodsell to be free from incarceration on an appeal bond and under the condition that Goodsell has no contact with the children he has been convicted of abusing. However, Reynolds had allowed the man to be with his wife, Leslie Goodsell, and as long as the children weren't present, to be there at the family property in Enola in order to restore a house that burned during the pendency of four rape charges filed against Goodsell in September, 2006.
Ten witnesses, including Goodsell, his wife, the two children he's accused of sexually abusing and a bus driver who said the children rarely miss a route, all said they didn't know of the 50-year-old convict being around the 14- and 17-year-old victims since a jury found him guilty of four counts' second-degree sexual assault on Aug. 24.
Two witnesses, Steve and Stacey Nichols of Highway 107 in Enola, testified to seeing Goodsell with the younger child on four occasions while each witness was driving past the Goodsell residence. Stacey Nichols was more specific than her husband in her claims against Goodsell, saying under oath she saw Marvin Goodsell standing in his yard while one of the victims bounced on a trampoline. Defense attorney Lynn Plemmons didn't trust the Nichols' claims.
"Driving by a residence at 60 mph is not an opportune time to pick somebody out of a lineup," Plemmons said in his closing argument.
"It's not an opportunity to make detailed observations. It is possible that Mrs. Nichols did see (the victim) bouncing on a trampoline. It is not likely that she could've identified Marvin Goodsell to the exclusions of any other man in the neighborhood or family (while Nichols) was going by at 60 mph."
Plemmons said that in order to revoke Goodsell's bond, one must find a conspiracy on the parts of Marvin and Leslie Goodsell, along with the two victims, bus driver Charlotte Shock, neighbors Donna and Mike Brudjar, relatives Linda and Andrew Felton and the victim's grandfather, Dwain Chapman. In order to revoke bond, Plemmons said, the 10 persons listed would have to "all get together and enter into a conspiracy to allow Marvin to stand in the front yard and watch (the victim) jump on the trampoline and drive her to school, and that strains all credibility."
Stacey Nichols wrote in an affidavit last week that she saw Goodsell with both children present at the property while Nichols was driving to work during the week of Oct. 22.
"Many times during the past two months I have witnessed Marvin Goodsell on this property with and without the children present," Nichols wrote. "I have also seen Mr. Goodsell exit the home and enter the home that the children live in. In Early October I witnessed Marvin dropping off (the 14-year-old) at the high school in Mt. Vernon."
Steve Nichols, who along with his wife offered few specific details of the sightings, had written in his affidavit that he has seen Goodsell with the children "on several occasions;" that Goodsell "has taken (the children) to school;" and that Nichols himself was "unclear of the exact dates, but all events were within the last month or two." Deputy prosecutor Joe Don Winningham said Wednesday, "As far as what Mr. Plemmons was saying (of) vast conspiracy: The witnesses came in and testified as to what they know. ... They came in and testified, 'I saw him with (the victim).' Each one on two separate occasions."
Plemmons argued that persons in the Enola community simply don't approve of the freedom granted to Goodsell, who has been "branded a child molester," according to Plemmons. Winningham said in response that "the court didn't convict Mr. Goodsell. A jury of his peers did. They convicted him of four counts."
"It's not that he just outlandishly has been branded that," said Winningham, who implied that Marvin and Leslie Goodsell were unreliable witnesses since each had testified in August that Goodsell was innocent. "We had a trial and (the jury) convicted him. All 12 convicted him. I'm not sure that Mr. Plemmons' witnesses came in and lied. They testified as to what they knew. But not many of those witnesses have been around the parties that much, except for the (two victims), Leslie Goodsell and Marvin Goodsell.
"It's for the court to decide as the fact finder in this case who was telling the truth. (Marvin Goodsell) has the motivation. He doesn't want to go to jail."
Reynolds sentenced Goodsell to 10 years in the Arkansas Department of Correction in August after a jury trial in which the two victims recanted from the witness stand what they had previously told persons from their church as well as an investigator from the Arkansas State Police: That Goodsell had sexually abused both children during the morning hours on more than one occasion. Goodsell had confessed to abusing the children in an interview conducted by sheriff's lieutenant Matt Rice, though Plemmons implied in the trial that Goodsell was pressured into a false confession, and that one of the victims invented tales of abuse in order to receive social attention.
Goodsell was ordered to be kept in sheriff's custody after hearings Wednesday night.