John Jefferson
Left: Christopher Baldner (Ulster County Sheriff’s Office). Right: Monica Goods (GoFundMe).
A New York State appeals court has reinstated a murder charge against a former state trooper for allegedly causing the death of an 11-year-old Brooklyn girl during a chase. The decision reverses an earlier dismissal issued by the trial court judge overseeing the matter.
In October 2021, Christopher G. Baldner was indicted by an Empire State grand jury on a charge of murder in the second degree for the death of Monica Goods, 11. He was also charged with one count of second-degree manslaughter and six counts of first-degree reckless endangerment. The next month, he was denied bail.
In February 2023, Ulster County Court Justice Bryan E. Rounds dismissed the murder charge, more or less allowing the lesser charges against Baldner to stand; the reckless endangerment charges were cut in half and also reduced to second-degree violations.
New York Attorney General Letitia James, a Democrat, appealed the lower court’s dismissal of the murder charge, which was granted in a 4-1 opinion by a panel of judges sitting in Albany on Thursday.
In the opinion, the Appellate Division of the Third Judicial Department of the New York State Supreme Court cited hard-charging language from the original indictment handed up in the case.
“The grand jury heard that, in September 2019, defendant ‘came out of the woods like the Dukes of Hazard’ in his State Police vehicle, sirens activated, when he observed a minivan speeding at 80 miles per hour,” the opinion reads. “The evidence of the December 2020 incident follows a similar pattern. The grand jury heard from witnesses that, around 11:40 p.m., defendant was ‘see[ing] if he could get one last ticket’ before meeting his partner when he stopped an SUV for speeding.”
The SUV, a Dodge Journey, was being driven by the dead girl’s father. After the traffic stop, the incident quickly escalated.
“[D]efendant began the traffic stop by angrily and profanely accusing Goods of traveling over 100 miles per hour,” the court wrote – crediting the narrative offered by the girl’s father. “An argument between defendant and Goods ensued in front of Goods’ wife and two children, who tried to calm him.”
The court summed up what happened next in exceedingly unflattering terms for the since-retired state trooper, at length:
Witnesses testified that, after defendant stepped away upon Goods’ request to summon a supervisor, defendant returned and, without warning or provocation, pepper-sprayed the passenger cabin of the SUV, and Goods’ wife and two children began screaming in pain. Goods, who had shielded his eyes from the spray, fled the traffic stop; in the commotion, defendant’s pepper spray canister ended up inside the passenger cabin of the SUV.
A frantic and hectic state of things ensued. According to the girl’s father, he drove away instinctively after being pepper-sprayed.
Baldner quickly followed the Goods family in hot pursuit – radioing dispatch that the SUV was “taking off” with his pepper spray.
“During the pursuit, Baldner twice rammed his police vehicle into the rear of the Goods car,” James said in a statement issued when the defendant was indicted. “Upon the second strike, the Goods car flipped over several times and came to rest upside down. The impact ejected Monica Goods from the car, and she died.”
Monica was dead by the time first responders arrived. Her older sister survived the crash – but her family says she was irreparably traumatized and suffered a lost childhood due to the fatal incident.
A GoFundMe for the girl’s family remembers her fondly: “Monica was a smart talented beautiful amazing giggly bubbly little girl. Monica was the most loving and caring person you could meet. She was filled with so much energy.”
The appellate court accepted James’ framing of the incident – and added some key details about the circumstances of each impact.
“[T]he grand jury could infer that defendant saw the SUV falling apart all over the road after he rammed it the first time at 130 miles per hour, permitting the grand jury to find that defendant – aware that the SUV still contained a family of four, including two children, all of whom he had just pepper-sprayed – was callously indifferent to the predictably tragic consequences of ramming it a second time at 100 miles per hour,” the opinion by Justice Sharon A.M. Aarons reads.
In dissent, Justice J.P. Egan Jr. said that Baldner was “doing his job in a reckless and undisciplined fashion” but that his conduct did not rise to the level of “utter disregard for human life.”
The majority, of course, disagreed – noting that even when Baldner used his service vehicle’s brakes during the chase, the reason he did so was to “to intentionally ram the SUV.” Such an act, the court observed, was only allowed under state police rules with a supervisor present – and in Baldner’s case, was of a piece with prior behavior.
“Viewing that evidence in the light most favorable to the People, the grand jury could readily conclude that defendant acted recklessly in both incidents by executing unauthorized maneuvers to end the chases and placing the occupants of the vehicles he was pursuing at risk of death, and it could therefore hand up an indictment charging offenses requiring that state of mind,” the court determined.
James issued a statement praising the court’s ruling:
As a former State Trooper, Christopher Baldner was responsible for serving and protecting the people of New York, but the indictment alleges that he violated that sacred oath and used his vehicle as a deadly weapon, resulting in the senseless death of a young girl.
While nothing can return Monica Goods to her family’s loving arms, this decision from the court will enable my office to continue our efforts to seek some semblance of justice for the Goods family.
We must hold law enforcement professionals to the highest standards, and we will continue our work on this case to ensure that justice is served.
Oppositely, and on Baldner’s behalf, the Police Benevolent Association of the New York State Troopers Inc., a union organization, issued a statement critical of the court’s ruling.
“We strongly disagree with the decision, which we believe improperly reinstated the ‘depraved indifference’ charge,” the union said. “We are deeply concerned that this ruling, if it stands, sets a dangerous precedent that could put a chill on law enforcement officers’ ability to do their job effectively and protect and serve the public. The PBA will continue to support retired Trooper Baldner and cover his legal expenses as he seeks leave to appeal this decision.”
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