Mother’s plea rejected: Idaho governor says ex-addict’s case is court matter
Idaho Gov. Butch Otter has responded to the pleas of a new mother and former meth addict who may soon be headed back to prison.
“As governor it would be inappropriate for me to get involved in individual court cases,” Otter said in a letter sent this week to Kendra Goodrick.
Goodrick, 29, wrote to the governor for help earlier this month after the Idaho Court of Appeals ruled 1st District Judge John Mitchell didn’t have the authority to place her on probation more than a year and a half ago.
While on probation, Goodrick married and had a baby. Her son, Jameson, is nearly 3 months old.
“We really, really thought he was our hope,” Goodrick said Thursday after receiving Otter’s letter in the mail.
Otter’s press secretary, Jon Hanian, said about a dozen people wrote to the governor supporting Goodrick. They received replies from Otter’s office similar to the letter sent to Goodrick.
The governor said he had his staff contact the heads of the Commission of Pardons and Parole and the Department of Corrections.
Otter said those departments “have done their best to address (Goodrick’s) concerns.”
He said the case is under the jurisdiction of the courts, though, and there’s nothing the Commission of Pardons and Parole or Department of Corrections can do to help Goodrick.
Otter encouraged her to “seek qualified legal representation.”
Goodrick’s public defender did not return calls seeking comment on Thursday. A hearing has been set for July 19 in front of Mitchell for a motion her attorney made asking that the time she spent on probation be credited toward her sentence.
It’s unclear when Goodrick will be returned to prison to serve the rest of her sentence for felony meth charges. At a minimum, she may spend six months in jail.
For the breast-feeding mother, the biggest concern is the time she’ll be away from her son.
“If anything, I’ve been trying to spend as much time with him while I can and cherish what might possibly be the last time we have together for a while,” she said.
Since her public appeal for help, Goodrick said she has had an overwhelming response from the community. A local church called offering to adopt her family.
A woman contacted Goodrick and offered to fly her husband, Tony Martinez, and the baby to Southern Idaho to visit her in prison and help with daycare. An anonymous Spokane man sent $5 to the newspaper for Goodrick.
The Women, Infants and Children program offered to provide her with an electric breast pump to use while she’s in lockup, and jail staff said they’d give her access to an electrical outlet so she could continue supplying breast milk for the baby.
“People do really want to help and that’s a wonderful feeling,” Goodrick said. “It makes me grateful to live in this community.”
Some response has been negative, Goodrick acknowledged. Some say even though she has been clean and sober for two years, she must suffer the consequences for the crimes she committed in the past.
“I still don’t feel any resentment toward Judge Mitchell or my lawyer,” Goodrick said. “If I hadn’t done the crime to begin with, none of this would have happened.”