Georgia · East Point, Fulton County · Crime & Courts

East Point Police Sexual Assault Retrial: Richard Gooddine Back in Fulton County Court Monday, GA

A former East Point police sergeant is expected back in a Fulton County courtroom at 9 a.m. Monday for a retrial on the 10 counts a jury could not agree on in 2022. That same jury acquitted him on seven others. He has not been convicted of anything and has maintained his innocence.

By Kate Thompson Published Aug. 23, 2026, 8:15 p.m. ET 9 min read Retrial begins Monday · 10 counts

What is happening in Fulton County court Monday?

A second trial for Richard Gooddine, a former sergeant with the East Point Police Department, is due to get under way at 9 a.m. Monday in a Fulton County courtroom, WSB-TV reported.

Before the court is a block of 10 counts that were left unresolved the first time the case went to a jury.

The indictment they come from ran to 17 counts. A jury in 2022 returned not guilty on seven of the charges and deadlocked on the other 10, and it is that deadlocked group the state is bringing back.

More than four years have passed since that first trial. Prosecutor Yolanda Mack had said at the time that a hung jury would not be the end of it and that she would seek another trial.

Gooddine is accused of improperly touching three women and two teenage girls during his years on the force. Prosecutors told the court at the first trial that he had reached some accusers under cover of a search during an arrest and others by winning their confidence first.

His defense argued the reverse: that the allegations were invented and the accusers had motives of their own. Gooddine has maintained his innocence.

He has not been convicted of any charge in this case. Seven counts ended in acquittal, and the 10 now set down for Monday are accusations the state still has to prove.

East Point is a city in south Fulton County, on Atlanta’s southwest edge.

What did the 2022 jury decide?

The first jury sat in March 2022 and spent 10 hours in deliberation before returning a split result — not guilty on seven counts, no agreement on 10.

Jurors described afterward what had stalled them. They said one member of the panel had decided Gooddine was innocent and would not take part in deliberations, and that she nodded along with the defense case instead.

That left the case in two parts: seven counts closed by acquittal and 10 counts still pending. Only the second group is on Monday’s calendar.

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What does Georgia law say about retrying counts a jury could not decide?

O.C.G.A. § 16-1-8 sets out when a prosecution is barred by a former prosecution.

Subsection (a)(1) bars a prosecution where the former prosecution “resulted in either a conviction or an acquittal.”

Subsection (e)(2)(C) provides that a termination is not improper where “the jury is unable to agree upon a verdict.”

The 2022 jury acquitted Gooddine on seven counts and could not agree on 10. Those 10 counts are the ones set for Monday.

What do the charges require and what do they carry?

The original case against him carried 17 charges. They fell into three groups: child molestation, sexual assault by an officer of the law, and violation of his oath of office.

Several of the 2018 counts were for aggravated sexual battery. Each of those, officials said at the time, exposed him to 25 years to life behind bars.

The Code sections behind two of the offense types named in the case read as follows.

Subsection (d) is not as old as the case. The General Assembly added it effective July 1, 2021, after the years in which the indictment places the alleged conduct.

The oath statute has changed since the conduct alleged here. The General Assembly amended § 16-10-1 in 2025 — Ga. L. 2025, p. 497, § 4/HB 582, effective July 1, 2025.

Subsection (b) provides that a peace officer who has sworn the oaths prescribed in Code Sections 15-16-4 and 45-3-7 is subject to prosecution under the section only for violations of those oaths. Subsection (c) provides that no individual may be prosecuted under the section for violating an oath of office “except where such violation is predicated upon the commission of a felony or a misdemeanor of a high and aggravated nature.”

The conduct alleged in this indictment dates to 2011 through 2018. Which version governs these counts is a question for the court.

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How did this case reach a second trial?

The case is eight years old as a prosecution and older than that as a complaint.

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation had looked at Gooddine once before. GBI public information officer Nelly Miles said the agency had looked into a 2011 complaint alleging a sexual offense against a minor, finished that work and passed the file to prosecutors in Fulton County. No prosecution followed.

Chris Hopper, public affairs director for the district attorney's office, said the accuser had been receiving counseling then and was doing better, and that “the office was concerned about certain particulars that might appear at trial that could re-traumatize her.” Hopper added that “these types of cases are of the highest priority in the Fulton County District Attorney's Office.”

Seven years later the department moved. East Point Police fired Sgt. Richard Gooddine on Aug. 22, 2018, FOX 5 Atlanta reported. He had worked with the department for 11 years.

East Point Police Chief Tommy Gardner said in a statement: “On August 22, 2018 Richard Gooddine was officially terminated by the East Point Police Department. It was determined during the course of our internal affairs investigation that Gooddine had violated multiple departmental policies and procedures, which resulted in his termination.”

East Point Police asked the GBI to take on the child molestation allegation, and the bureau opened its own case.

A grand jury indicted the recently fired officer on 17 counts on Sept. 27, 2018. Officials said it involved four female accusers and alleged improper sexual contact with each. Warrants had come first — 15 of them, sought by the Fulton County District Attorney for Gooddine, who was then 38. Officials placed the alleged incidents across four of his years at the department: 2011, 2016, 2017 and 2018. Two of the accusers, they said, were under 16 at the time.

A further count accuses him of threatening and attempting to intimidate a teenage accuser, along with her mother, in the aftermath of an alleged assault that followed a traffic stop that August.

Melissa Redmon, a deputy district attorney in Fulton County, called the alleged conduct “unbelievable,” and said nothing in her nearly fifteen years as a prosecutor compared to what is alleged to have happened after the assault. Officials asked anyone else with a complaint to come forward to the district attorney's office.

A Fulton County judge granted Gooddine a $500,000 bond at a hearing that same Thursday morning.

The trial did not follow quickly. It was postponed in April 2019, and the jury that finally heard it did not return until March 2022.

Which agencies handled this case?

The case is prosecuted by the Fulton County District Attorney's Office. Monday's setting is a Fulton County courtroom.

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation investigated at East Point Police's request, and had also handled the 2011 complaint that the district attorney's office did not prosecute.

The East Point Police Department conducted the internal affairs investigation that ended in Gooddine's firing, a separate process from the criminal case.

What we don’t know yet

Frequently asked questions

Who is Richard Gooddine?
Richard Gooddine is a former East Point police officer and sergeant who is charged in Fulton County with offenses stemming from an alleged sexual assault. He was fired by the East Point Police Department on Aug. 22, 2018, after an internal affairs investigation, and a Fulton County grand jury indicted him on 17 counts the following month. He has not been convicted and has maintained his innocence.

When is the Richard Gooddine retrial in Fulton County?
He is expected back in a Fulton County courtroom at 9 a.m. Monday for the retrial process to start, WSB-TV reported. The first trial ended more than four years ago.

What did the 2022 jury decide?
In March 2022 the jury deliberated for 10 hours and returned a partial verdict. It acquitted Gooddine on seven charges and deadlocked on 10 others. Those 10 undecided charges are the ones bringing him back to court.

What does Georgia law say about a hung count?
O.C.G.A. Section 16-1-8(a)(1) bars a prosecution where a former prosecution resulted in either a conviction or an acquittal. Section 16-1-8(e)(2)(C) provides that a termination is not improper where the jury is unable to agree upon a verdict. The 2022 jury acquitted Gooddine on seven counts and could not agree on 10, and those 10 counts are the ones set for Monday.

What charges was Richard Gooddine originally indicted on?
He faced 17 charges falling into three groups: child molestation, sexual assault by an officer of the law, and violation of his oath of office. A Fulton County grand jury returned the indictment on Sept. 27, 2018, after the district attorney issued 15 arrest warrants.

What does aggravated sexual battery carry in Georgia?
Under O.C.G.A. Section 16-6-22.2, aggravated sexual battery is intentional penetration with a foreign object of the sexual organ or anus of another person without that person's consent. Subsection (c) sets punishment at imprisonment for life, or a split sentence of not less than 25 years and not exceeding life, followed by probation for life. Subsection (d) provides that where the alleged victim is under 16 and the conduct is for the purpose of sexual arousal of the alleged offender or the alleged victim, consent is not a defense, subject to a proviso that removes cases in which the alleged victim is at least 13 but under 16 and the accused is 18 or younger and no more than 48 months older. Subsection (d) was added effective July 1, 2021, after the years in which the indictment places the alleged conduct.

What does violation of oath by a public officer carry?
O.C.G.A. Section 16-10-1(a) provides that any public officer who willfully and intentionally violates the terms of his or her oath as prescribed by law shall on conviction be imprisoned for not less than one nor more than five years. The General Assembly amended that Code section in 2025, effective July 1, 2025. Subsection (b) provides that a peace officer who has sworn the oaths prescribed in Code Sections 15-16-4 and 45-3-7 is subject to prosecution under the section only for violations of those oaths, and subsection (c) provides that no individual may be prosecuted under the section unless the violation is predicated upon the commission of a felony or a misdemeanor of a high and aggravated nature. The conduct alleged in this indictment dates to 2011 through 2018.

Was Richard Gooddine granted bond?
A Fulton County judge granted him a $500,000 bond at a hearing on Sept. 27, 2018, the same day the grand jury returned the 17-count indictment.

Which agencies investigated the case?
East Point Police asked the Georgia Bureau of Investigation to take on the child molestation allegation, and the bureau opened its own case. The East Point Police Department separately conducted the internal affairs investigation that ended in Gooddine's termination. The case is prosecuted by the Fulton County District Attorney's Office.