Ex-officer Aaron Goodwin looks to block claims of racist remarks from assault trial

PORTSMOUTH — Former city police sergeant Aaron Goodwin, facing trial for the alleged assault of a Black bank executive, is seeking to block witness testimony alleging he made racist comments during the incident.

Mamadou Dembele, the bank executive, alleged in December he was attacked and injured in the area of Gilley’s Diner the night of Nov. 22, the day before Thanksgiving. In a statement his attorney shared at the time, Dembele, said the “words used by my attacker leave no doubt that this was a racist act.”

Goodwin has pleaded not guilty to the assault.

John Durkin, attorney for Aaron Goodwin, filed a motion Tuesday calling for the court to “preclude the complaining witness from testifying in regard to any alleged racial comments.” The attorney claims the complaining witness confirmed in a recorded interview after the alleged incident that “no racial comments were made” by Goodwin. The filing does not name the complaining witness.

Robin Melone, Dembele’s attorney, said Thursday she would not comment on the defense's court filings.

“It is improper for me to comment on pleadings filed in litigation,” Melone said. Melone has previously said the incident was a racist attack.

In March, New Hampshire State Police announced Goodwin, a 45-year-old Eliot, Maine, resident, his brother, Kevin Goodwin, and sister-in-law Shannon Goodwin were each charged in connection to the incident, though none of the three were charged with a hate crime. The former Portsmouth police sergeant and his brother each face the same two counts — simple assault, a Class A misdemeanor, and disorderly conduct, which is a violation. Shannon Goodwin was charged with three counts of simple assault and a single count of disorderly conduct.

Dembele is named in court documents filed by authorities as the victim of the alleged assault by Aaron Goodwin. Police have not identified who was allegedly assaulted by Kevin and Shannon Goodwin.

What Goodwin's attorney is arguing in his defense

Goodwin’s defense calls the alleged November assault “a scuffle between two people under the influence of alcohol, captured on video, (that) reveals a single throw to the ground."

“Despite press reports to the contrary, discovery provided by the state reveals there is not a single witness who attributes a single racial comment to defendant Aaron Goodwin," Durkin claims in his motion. "After the incident, the complaining witness submitted to a number of interviews, with his civil counsel present for the entirety of the last recorded interview. During that recorded interview the complaining witness confirmed that the defendant did not utter a single racial comment or otherwise express any racial animus toward him,” the motion states.

“ … The complaining witness and his civil attorney have made a variety of public comments asserting that this was a racially motivated assault,” the motion in limine adds. “The defense is concerned that the purported victim will seek to opine on a racist motive, or otherwise seek to introduce inadmissible evidence warranting the filing of this pleading and request for relief.”

Durkin's motion states no other party is charged with assaulting the complaining witness.

“To the extent that other parties, charged with other offenses, may have made any alleged racial comments, those comments are not relevant to any issue that the court must decide in the present case and admission thereof would be unduly prejudicial to the defendant in the instant matter,” the filing reads.

Durkin also filed a notice of defense in the case on Goodwin's behalf, which states his client used physical force in defense of a person.

Last month, Goodwin described the incident in his own words.

"I was acting in defense of my sister-in-law," he wrote in a statement to Seacoastonline. "Mr. Dembele pursued her and I perceived him as a threat after he put his tray of food on the ground and got in her face. I pulled him away from her. There was nothing more. The entire incident is on surveillance."

According to Durkin, the prosecution has 10 days to respond to file an objection to the motion.

“He looks forward to his day in court and we’re happy that the case is scheduled relatively quickly,” Durkin said of Goodwin.

Goodwin bench trial scheduled in Hampton

Goodwin was scheduled to be arraigned in Portsmouth District Court on Monday, April 22, but it has been canceled. His case will is scheduled for a bench trial in Hampton District Court on May 14 before Judge Michael Zaino.

Goodwin turned himself in to state police last month and was released on personal recognizance bail. His bail order bars him from contacting Dembele or coming within 200 feet of him. Goodwin is also ordered not to return to Gilley’s Diner.

The case is being prosecuted by Daniel Peete on behalf of New Hampshire State Police and Joachim Barth with the Strafford County Attorney’s Office.

The arrest warrants issued for Kevin and Shannon Goodwin, both of Dundalk, Maryland, are non-extraditable, said state police spokesperson Tyler Dumont.

“They can only be taken into custody when and if they return to the State of New Hampshire,” he said in a statement this week. “The New Hampshire State Police have contacted Kevin and Shannon Goodwin and have requested their cooperation.”

Aaron Goodwin was fired from the Portsmouth Police Department in 2015 after being accused of exercising undue influence to get an elderly, mentally impaired woman to leave most of her multi-million-dollar estate to him.

The former Portsmouth sergeant’s assault case was initially being investigated by the city police department but was handed over to state police due to the conflict of interest.

Dembele went public with his allegations, though he did not name the perpetrator. Local and state Black leaders rallied in support of him at the African Burying Ground Memorial Park in Portsmouth.

The New Hampshire attorney general’s Civil Rights Unit is still reviewing the alleged incident, according to Senior Assistant Attorney General Sean Locke, director of the Civil Rights Unit.

This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Ex-officer Aaron Goodwin looks to block claims of racist remarks