REGINA – The Goforth murder trial resumed this morning with the couple’s lawyers’ closing argument saying the Crown didn’t prove the Goforths intended to kill or harm either girl in their care.
Tammy and Kevin Goforth are facing second degree murder charges in the death of a four-year-old girl in 2012. They are also accused of abusing her two-year-old sister.
On Thursday, the defence asked the jury to look at the whole picture and all the evidence. They claimed the girls didn’t come to the Goforth’s home in perfect health and the accused weren’t provided any background to properly care for them.
Both Tammy Goforth’s attorney Jeff Deagle and Kevin Goforth’s attorney Noah Evanchuk also argued the girl’s former social worker, Alicia Ward, wasn’t credible because she admitted to lying on the stand about a document provided to the accused about their responsibilities.
Deagle told the jury Tammy and the girls were sick, and there are photos of medicine in police photographs to prove it.
“Sometimes bad things happen. Sometimes bad things happen because they were intended to happen but this is not the case,” Deagle said at the end of his closing argument.
During Evanchuk’s closing arguments, he accused investigators of having “tunnel” vision when they searched the Goforth’s home because they were searching for items of restraint to fit a theory.
He also told the jury that the girls went to church every Sunday, and photos from Christmas show the girls weren’t treated different than the Goforth’s own children.
Crown’s Closing Argument
The Crown spent roughly an hour for its closing argument, asking the jury to use their common sense and best judgment when going over all the evidence that’s been put before them over nearly three weeks.
Prosecutor Kim Jones argued the Goforths failed to provide the girls with adequate food, liquids or medical care and that they knew the risk associated with doing so could lead to death.
“Trust your gut, trust your judgment and use your common sense.” Kim Jones
Jones said several witnesses described “happy and healthy girls” prior to entering the Goforth’s care. He asked the jury to compare photos of them before entering the home with photos of them in hospital.
“The photos speak for themselves,” he said.
The Crown said the Goforth’s tried to shift the blame onto Social Services, claiming they didn’t provide them with health care information or backgrounds on the children.
However, Jones said Tammy told an ER nurse on the night the four-year-old was taken to hospital that she was the girl’s guardian and that the birth mother had no rights. “There’s no doubt she knew the girls were her responsibility.”
Jones suggested the jury ask themselves how the children ended up with very similar injuries across their body and discredited the defence’s argument that they were just superficial in nature. “The degree and extent of injuries to the girls is shocking.”
Jones referred back to a number of pieces of evidence believed to be used as restraints and said they coincide with expert testimonies that the girls were restrained or held in a confined space.
The Crown also told the jury there’s enough evidence that the girls malnutrition and dehydration didn’t happen overnight.
Tammy was visibly upset as Jones closed his statements by saying the jury should find both Tammy and Kevin guilty of all the charges against them.
“They must have foreseen that this type of conduct would lead to bodily harm and eventually death, yet they chose to do nothing,” he said. “Trust your gut, trust your judgment and use your common sense.”
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