A Juneau Superior Court judge lowered the bail for a man reportedly caught in the act of burglarizing a woman’s home, but refused to release him on an unsecured appearance bond — a type of bail in which the accused make a written promise to appear in court.
Derek Hunter Goodman, 43, along with co-defendant Joseph Corry Tong, 48, has been charged with first-degree burglary and second-degree theft in the May 23 incident, in which the homeowner allegedly confronted them, chased them out of her home and then followed their getaway van.
Goodman’s bail had been set at $7,500 during his initial arraignment in Juneau District Court. On Monday, his attorney, Assistant Public Defender Eric Hedland, asked that Goodman be allowed out without bail, telling Judge Louis Menendez he would be released to his mother; Hedland explained that Goodman suffers from a traumatic brain injury sustained in his youth.
District Attorney James Scott argued to keep the bail as set, saying that Goodman has a “very busy” criminal history that includes as least seven theft-related offenses.
Hedland, however, noted that his client has had only one conviction, for disorderly conduct, since 2007.
“Most important, we think he’s innocent of this charge,” he said, referring to a report full of “garbled” accounts from “a bunch of drunk people” and noting that several witnesses described two other people running from the getaway van and that missing jewelry was not recovered from the vehicle.
Hedland said he hoped that prints would be able to be lifted from items the burglars reportedly dropped, adding, “Hopefully, we can get to the bottom of who was in the house. … I think it’s a weak case.”
Menendez dropped Goodman’s bail to $5,000; both men remain set for a hearing on June 22.
According to the criminal complaint filed, Juneau Police Department Officer Jason Van Sickle responded to a burglary call at 7:13 p.m. May 23 from a woman in the 3200 block of Bresee Street in the Mendenhall Valley.
She told Van Sickle that she came home to find her front door cracked open and two men inside. When she confronted the two men, they dropped what was in their hands and left, and that she followed them as they got into a green Dodge Caravan. She then followed them in the van, which she lost sight of for about three minutes.
Van Sickle stopped the van on Trinity Drive and detained the driver and three passengers. The homeowner reportedly identified Tong and Goodman as the two men who were inside her house.
Tong, Goodman and one of the passengers were interviewed and gave conflicting statements, according to Van Sickle’s report.
At the initial arraignment, Assistant District Attorney Amy Paige noted that Goodman had a lengthy theft-related criminal history. Paige said that Tong had a shorter criminal history with six prior convictions that included DUI and theft; she added that he has a pending case from May 9 in which he allegedly shoplifted from Foodland IGA.
• Contact reporter Liz Kellar at 523-2246 or liz.kellar@juneauempire.com.
