An Ulster County Court jury has found a former New York State trooper guilty of manslaughter stemming from a deadly December 2020 high-speed chase on the Thruway that killed an 11-year-old girl.
Monica Goods died after then-state trooper Christopher Baldner rammed an SUV driven by her father, Tristan Goods, twice at high speed.
The jury returned the guilty verdict Friday after more than five hours of deliberation over two days.
After the verdict was read, Monica Goods’ mother, Michelle Surrency, told WAMC it was hard to describe her feelings.
“No matter what the verdict is, my child still never comes back," she said. "So there's no real justice in this. It's accountability, but it's not justice. Justice is my child being back.”
Baldner last year was found not guilty of murder in connection to the incident, which occurred near Kingston. But he was retried for manslaughter this year after the jury in November was hung on the charge.
During closing arguments in the retrial, defense attorney Anthony Ricco spent less than 10 minutes talking about the high-speed chase and focused on the behavior of Tristan Goods, who, he said, refused to hand over his ID during the traffic stop that led to the chase. The defense argued Tristan Goods had rammed trooper Baldner, who was behind him.
Meanwhile, the prosecution said Tristan Goods only fled after his family was pepper sprayed. Attorney Jennifer Gashi said Baldner escalated the situation with the pepper spray. During closing, the prosecution played the dispatch recordings of the high-speed chase and pointed out there was no sound of sirens.
Baldner is scheduled to be sentenced on June 2.
