HOUSTON COUNTY: This week Cierra Goodson has been on trial for Capital Murder. Thsi offense carries the death penalty or life without a chance at parole.
The trial began Monday with Dothan Attorney’s Derek Yarbrough and Shaun McGhee as court appointed legal counsel. To represent someone in a Captial Murder case the attorney’s are required to have been practicing attorney’s for ten years.
Today Goodson withdrew her not guilty plea and entered a guilty plea to felony murder. For her plea she was sentenced immediately after her plea to a term of 40 years in the Alabama State Prison.
Goodson was one of 5 defendants charged in the murder death of Harvey Gray in 2021. One defendant had already entered a guilty plea under former 20th Judicial Circuit District Attorney Pat Jones and received a 15 tear sentence.
There is one more adult to stand trial and two juveniles also charged in Gray’s murder.
The case was investigated by Houston County Sheriff Department.
DOTHAN, Ala. (WTVY) – Midway through her trial, Cierra Goodson pleaded guilty to a lesser charge and received a 40-year sentence immediately.
Her Felony Murder plea came as prosecutors continued to present their case during what attorneys projected would be a whole week of testimony and deliberations. The trial began on Monday.
Goodson, 38, had been charged with Capital Murder and would have received life without parole if convicted.
Goodson is among five defendants—some juveniles who state law doesn’t permit to be publicly identified- charged with the 2021 murder of Hardy Gray, killed at his Cottonwood area home, and his body discovered on the Monday after Thanksgiving.
