Verdict In Thompson Murders

Michael Goodwin was convicted in a Los Angeles courtroom January 5th of two counts of murder with special circumstances in the nearly 20-year-old deaths of racing and concert promoter Mickey Thompson and his wife, Trudy.

The couple was found shot to death in their suburban Los Angeles home in 1988 in what had been considered a sensational "cold case." Mickey Thompson’s sister, Collene Campbell, is widely credited with keeping the case alive by insisting investigators pursue Goodwin.

It initially seemed like the perfect crime. Two unknown assailants on bicycles penetrated the gated confines of Thompson’s home, shot him and his wife as they left for work, then escaped through a wooded area where a car could not have traveled.

Neighbors described hearing screams and seeing two men pedaling away. One neighbor actually tried to shoot at them but was too far away and too late to do any good. The men were never seen again, and are still at large.

Prosecutors accused Goodwin, a former business associate of Thompson, of having two hit men carry out the murders after their partnership ended in a bitter legal battle.

While "special circumstances" of lying in wait and multiple murder were found to be true by the jury, Goodwin, who was arrested in 2001, will not face the death penalty but life without the possibility of parole.

An L.A. County public defender in the case said the verdict will be appealed.