A California man who brutally beat his girlfriend’s young son to death has been granted parole, sparking outrage from public safety advocates, KRON-TV reports.
Now, prosecutors say they will urge Gov. Gavin Newsom to overturn the decision to keep 49-year-old Patrick Goodman in state custody.
“We are talking about the murder of an innocent and vulnerable 3-year-old child,” San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins told the television station.
Goodman killed 3-year-old Elijah Sanderson in December 2000, in part by repeatedly swinging the boy by his wrist into a wall. The child had upwards of 50 bruises all over his body. He also had broken bones, numerous traumatic injuries and “pulverized” organs, according to Fox News.
Convicted of second-degree murder and child abuse, Goodman was sentenced to 25 years to life with the possibility of parole. He has been serving that sentence at a California Department of Corrections medical facility.
The state’s parole board held a hearing in December, when Goodman said he is a changed man.
“I hope that one day I will be able to show Elijah’s family, society and everyone who got caught in the ripple effect of my actions, that I’m no longer the monster that I used to be,” Goodman reportedly said, according to a transcript of the hearing posted by the San Francisco Public Safety News website.
Jenkins’ office was also represented at the hearing and argued against granting parole.
“We have to be advocates for public safety and we have to make sure that people one, serve the time that they were sentenced to, but then also that when it’s time for them to integrate back into the public, that they are ready to do so and to be productive members of society,” Jenkins told KRON-TV. “And right now, we do not have faith and trust that this individual is ready for that at this time. And that again, he poses a significant public safety risk.”
The district attorney’s office is drafting a letter to Newsom asking that he overturn the parole board’s decision, action Newsom took eight times in 2023 and 21 times in 2022, according to KRON-TV.
A spokesperson for the Democratic governor said Goodman’s case “will be reviewed carefully,” according to Fox News.
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[Feature Photo: Patrick Goodman/California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation]
