Goodson Gets Eight Years In Potter Hit-And-Run

Ayear and a day after 41-year-old Kimberly Potter of Bend was struck and killed riding her bike down Third Street in the early-morning hours, the driver in the hit-and-run was sentenced Friday to more thaneight years in prison.

Christopher Goodson, 23will spend the rest of his 20s behind bars.He wasdriving theMercedes-Benz that killed Potter and wasburned and abandoned south of town hours later in a cover-up attempt.

On Thursday, Goodson entered an “Alford plea” in Circuit Judge Michael Sullivan’s courtroom, meaning he didn’t admit wrongdoing,only that a judge or jury would be likely to convict him in the death of Potter, who left behind three sons.

Back in Sullivan’s court on Friday, Goodson briefly turned and apologized to the victim’s family and friends, even expressing remorse for his actions. But a letter read in court from Potter’s sister harshly criticized Goodson for his actions that day and urged a much longer sentence.

Two other men involved in Potter’s death already had been sentenced for their roles in the cover-up try. Eric Allen Brown was sentenced to three years probation and time in a drug treatment facility and Robert Battles was sentenced last month to five years in jail.

Goodson’s father, George, also was charged with trying to help coverup his son’s crime. But he wasfound dead of an apparent overdose at the Westward Ho Motel on Third Street less than a month after Potter’s death.

Coincidentally, Potter was living at the same motel just before her death.

“I think it’s a tragic coincidence,” the motel’s weekend manager, Laird Nicolson, said Friday. “Neither one of them knew each other- very tragic and strange coincidence.”

Members of Potter’s family told me after the sentencing this is a very hard time for them and they are unhappy with the legal system andthe sentences in this case.