Murder In The Fast Lane

A Woman Seeks Justice For The Murder Of Her Brother And Sister-In-Law

(CBS)  After the murders, Goodwin headed to the Caribbean on his yacht, but when he returned to the U.S., he found himself in a sea of trouble. But it wasn’t about the murders; Goodwin was charged with filing false loan statements. He was convicted and sent to prison for 30 months.

Not surprisingly, Goodwin says. He claims Collene wanted to put him there and that the charges were "all fabricated."

Asked if he thinks he will be indicted, Goodwin says, "Yes."

Goodwin’s convinced his time is up-so convinced, he has set up one of 48 Hours' video cameras in his living room. On Dec. 17th the tape was rolling when the bang on the door finally came and he was arrested.

The next morning, Goodwin is arraigned for the murders of Mickey and Trudy Thompson.

Goodwin would plead not guilty and say he was eager to go to trial, but justice would move slowly, and strangely. After two and a half years, the case against Goodwin was dismissed by Orange County.

He was just about to walk out the door a free man, when he was re-arrested by authorities from Los Angeles County; they would hold him another two and a half years.

Finally after five years locked up without bail, Goodwin would go to trial in Pasadena, Calif., his future in the hands of a young prosecutor, who wasn’t even in college yet when Mickey and Trudy Thompson were murdered.

Prosecutor Alan Jackson would make the case that the very nature of this murder was a give-away, the road map that inevitably led to Michael Goodwin. "This was an incredibly well-orchestrated, well conducted , execution style murder," Jackson tells Lagattuta. "This was about pride, this was about ego. This was about winning and losing. Mike Goodwin saw paying a nickel to Mickey Thompson as a loss and he’d be seen as a loser the rest of his life."

"What they have is that Michael could have had a motive because he was a business partner, and the business had gone sour. That’s all they have," says public defender Elena Saris, for whom this murder has now gotten personal.

"The scariest case that you can try is with a client that you believe to be innocent. There’s just nothing that’s more fearful," she explains.

Saris says she does believe her client is innocent.

And so it would all finally begin, 18 years after that bloody morning: the murder trial of Michael Goodwin.

The prosecution's case is built on the memories of witnesses, like former cop Bill Wilson, who says Goodwin said, "I'm gonna take him out."

And the death threats he recalls hearing so many years ago.

"What the evidence will show is that the killers of Mickey and Trudy Thompson have never been identified, never been named, never been caught, never been arrested. The police have no murder weapon, no forensic evidence, nothing tying any individual to this crime-much less tying Michael Goodwin to these unknown assassins," Saris argues in court.

"Regardless of whether you like this man, regardless of whether they told you for the last seven weeks what a jerk he is, the law protects the unpopular, the law protects people when the district attorney does not present enough evidence to convince you beyond a reasonable doubt," she tells jurors.

Goodwin is the only one in the Pasadena courthouse who knows for sure if his were the hands behind the Thompson murders.

"They have absolutely no idea who killed these people. And they’re looking for someone to blame, because it’s been unsolved for 18 years," Saris says.

"I worry everyday a jury is out. There’s no way not to worry. I mean I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a little bit on pins and needles. But I’m real superstitious," prosecutor Jackson says.

Even he knows why his case is a tough one to sell. "There is no single smoking gun in this case," Jackson acknowledges.

And he admits there is no physical evidence at the crime scene linking Goodwin to the murders.

Asked if he will be acquitted, Goodwin tells Lagattuta, "I do believe I will. I can’t be 100 percent sure. But I do believe I will."

And Collene can’t be sure either, fearful that the case might falter on something like a hung jury. "No matter what happens, no matter what the jury comes back with, it doesn’t bring Mickey and Trudy back," she says.