By DAMIEN FISHER, InDepthNH.org

The New Hampshire Supreme Court has determined that Portsmouth must award $150,000 in back pay to former police officer Aaron Goodwin, whose termination stemmed from claims he influenced an elderly woman with dementia to include him in her will for a $2.7 million estate.

In the May 14 decision, the Court supported Arbitrator Bonnie McSpiritt's conclusion that the city bore responsibility due to inadequate supervision and accountability structures, which led to the grant of two years of back wages.

"There was a lack of accountability in the Police Department and the City that the Court is not free to ignore," McSpiritt determined. "If the officer had been properly supervised, the improper conduct may not have occurred and if it did occur because he did not correct his conduct then there would have been just cause to discipline him. I note that the just cause concept expects that the employer will do their job too and the police department failed to do so. I took into consideration that the officer used poor judgment throughout the situation, but I determined that his command staff should have educated him that the decisions he was making were poor ones."

This marks the second occasion the Court has addressed Goodwin's back pay claim, and further review remains possible. Portsmouth submitted a motion for reconsideration shortly after the ruling, arguing that McSpiritt's latest determination was unreasonable.

McSpiritt initially concluded Goodwin deserved salary and benefits covering June 2015 through August 2017, citing due process violations and absence of just cause for termination. Following the Supreme Court's initial rejection, she revisited the case and issued a similar award, emphasizing the city's supervisory shortcomings as the key factor.

The Supreme Court's May 14 opinion limits reversals of arbitration outcomes to instances of plain error or proven fraud or dishonesty by participants, neither of which applied here.

Goodwin, now 47, lost his position in 2015 after using his authority to pressure 92-year-old Geraldine Webber, who suffered from dementia, into altering her will in his favor. The document was contested successfully in probate court, leaving him without the inheritance.

His legal issues persisted into 2023 with assault charges involving Mamadou Dembele near Gilly's Diner, alongside his brother Kevin Goodwin and sister-in-law Shannon Goodwin.

Per the Attorney General's Office, Dembele, a bank manager, encountered the Goodwins while collecting food and became the target of racial slurs. The group pursued him into the parking lot, where the verbal abuse continued, and later directed similar remarks at arriving Asian American patrons.

Dembele attempted to confront Shannon Goodwin about the comments when Aaron Goodwin approached from behind and knocked him down.

A second Black individual who tried to assist Dembele also faced alleged attacks from Kevin and Shannon Goodwin, according to the Attorney General's Office.

The criminal matters concluded via plea agreements without incarceration, though the Attorney General pursued civil claims alleging civil rights violations. Rockingham Superior Court Judge Andrew Schulman dismissed the case last year, finding insufficient evidence presented at trial.

"To be clear, all three Goodwins were out-of-control on November 22, 2023. Kevin's comments in the diner were reprehensible. Shannon's conduct was outrageous. Aaron's conduct properly resulted in a criminal conviction, and might have supported a more serious charge. But the court decides this case by applying the statutory law to the facts that were actually introduced at trial," Schulman wrote.