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Ethics
Lawyer’s joint sex with boyfriend and his daughter was ‘tantamount to rape,’ despite plea deal, disbarment order says
The Ohio Supreme Court has disbarred lawyer Amber Renee Goodman of Elida, Ohio, for repeatedly joining with her boyfriend to abuse his 13-year-old daughter. (Image from Shutterstock)
An Ohio lawyer has been permanently disbarred for repeatedly joining with her boyfriend to abuse his 13-year-old daughter.
The Ohio Supreme Court disbarred lawyer Amber Renee Goodman of Elida, Ohio, rejecting ethics officials’ recommendation for an indefinite suspension based on the lawyer’s plea to a lesser charge, report the Columbus Dispatch, Law360 and Court News Ohio (via the Legal Profession Blog).
“Looking to the misconduct underlying Goodman’s conviction shows that her actions were tantamount to rape,” the Ohio Supreme Court said in its March 12 decision. “Goodman encouraged and perpetuated the sexual molestation committed by the victim’s father, and at the very least, she was complicit in his crimes. But she was actually more than complicit—she actively engaged in the repeated rape of the child.”
The abuse involving Goodman and the teenager’s father happened over a period of four to six months. The boyfriend had sexual intercourse with Goodman and his daughter, while Goodman performed other sexual acts, the state supreme court said. The teen said, however, her father began sexually molesting her much earlier, when she was 9 years old.
“Goodman’s willingness, in the victim’s words, to ‘join in’ perpetuated and added to the abuse that the child suffered, and Goodman became just another ‘monster’ in the child’s life,” the Ohio Supreme Court said in an opinion by Chief Justice Sharon L. Kennedy. “And rather than report this abuse to authorities, Goodman told the victim not to tell anyone about it.”
After the teen reported the abuse in January 2019, Goodman continued a relationship with the teen’s father for two years.
Goodman had pleaded guilty to one count of unlawful sexual contact with a minor, a third-degree felony, in May 2022. The law bars adults from engaging in sexual conduct with a person older than age 13 but less than age 16, when the offender knows the age of the victim or is reckless in that regard.
Goodman was placed on an interim suspension after her conviction. The Ohio Board of Professional Conduct had recommended an indefinite suspension with no credit for time spent under interim suspension. Generally, lawyers on indefinite suspension can apply for reinstatement after two years, according to Court News Ohio.
Goodman was sentenced to 30 months in prison. She was released after almost eight months of incarceration provided that she served 120 days in the county jail and five years on community control. She was also required to abstain from use of alcohol and illegal substances.
Goodman had claimed that past trauma had made her susceptible to manipulation by the boyfriend. Goodman said her father had left when she was 3 years old, and “nothing she ever did as a child was good enough for him.” She also said she had been mentally abused by one of her two ex-husbands and physically abused by both of them.
“At her disciplinary hearing, Goodman portrayed herself as the victim of manipulation and lies, but she failed to explain how that could possibly cause her to molest a child,” the state supreme court said.
Nor did she produce evidence showing how trauma that she suffered as a child and an adult contributed to her misconduct, the Ohio Supreme Court said.
In a concurrence, Justice Michael P. Donnelly said ethics officials would have been able to recommend a more appropriate sanction if “the criminal-justice system properly held Goodman to account for the criminal acts she committed.”
Donnelly said he thought that Goodman would have been convicted of rape if prosecutors had presented evidence available to the Ohio Supreme Court.
Donnelly criticized the Ohio Supreme Court for rejecting a rule change eight years ago that would have required felony charges in plea bargains to have a factual basis in the conduct actually committed.
“As a result,” Donnelly said, “Goodman managed to plead guilty to a crime that does not come close to accounting for the vile acts she committed.”
Goodman’s lawyer, George D. Jonson, did not immediately reply to an ABA Journal email and a voicemail seeking comment. Jonson’s voicemail message states that he is in a disciplinary hearing through Thursday.
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