SC man was on the run for over 100 days. Now he’s going to prison, prosecutor says
A Columbia man was sentenced to decades behind bars after being convicted on a murder charge, among other crimes, the 5th Circuit Solicitor’s Office said Wednesday.
On Dec. 22 in a Richland County courtroom, 22-year-old Jerod Goodwin was convicted on murder, possession of a weapon during the commission of a violent crime, and use of vehicle without permission charges, the solicitor’s office said in a news release.
The solicitor’s office said Goodwin was wanted for more than 100 days after he shot and killed Genesis Williams and took his car following an argument in 2021. Williams was a 28-year-old Eastover resident, according to the Richland County Coroner’s Office.
The crime
On Aug. 14, 2021, Goodwin and Williams began their night driving to various clubs and, at one point, stopped to pick up a friend of Williams, according to the release.
The three eventually went to Goodwin’s mother’s house in the early morning hours of Aug. 15, where Goodwin said that he changed clothes and armed himself with a stolen pistol, according to the solicitor’s office.
Goodwin testified that he and Williams got into a verbal and physical altercation at the house, according to the release. Information on what the men argued about was not available.
That prompted Williams and his friend to leave when Goodwin, still armed with the stolen pistol, got into the back seat of the car, the solicitor’s office said. On the ride from Greene Street to a home off Garners Ferry Road, Williams and Goodwin again began to argue, and Goodwin refused to leave the vehicle, according to the release.
The Richland County Sheriff’s Department said that both Williams and Goodwin got out of the vehicle in the 2000 block of Dominion Drive in Columbia, where Goodwin shot Williams and left him in the street, driving away in William’s car. Williams was shot three times, the solicitor’s office said.
Deputies responding to a shots fired call found Williams at about 7 a.m., the sheriff’s department said. Williams, who had been shot in the lower body, was taken to an area hospital where he died a short time later, officials said.
The aftermath
On Nov. 30, more than three months after the shooting, members of the Midlands Gang Fugitive Task Force tracked Goodwin down at a family member’s home in Lexington, the sheriff’s department said.
Even 107 days after the shooting, Goodwin was found with the murder weapon still in his possession, according to the solicitor’s office.
Goodwin was sentenced to 30 years in prison on the murder charge, 5 years on the weapons charge and 3 years on the use of vehicle without permission charge, Richland County court records show. The sentences will be served concurrently, according to court records.
Lt. Stephen Dauway and Sgt. Taima Jordan of the sheriff’s department led the investigation, and the case was prosecuted by Senior Assistant Solicitor Dale Scott, Assistant Solicitor Nick Fowler, and Assistant Solicitor Samuel McGlothin.
Columbia attorney Nathaniel Brady represented Goodwin, court records show.
More trouble
Goodwin is also facing pending charges from another arrest that happened while he was out on bond on the murder charge.
Goodwin posted a combined bond of $225,000 on the charges connected to Williams’ death, according to court records. Stipulations of the bond required that Goodwin submit to electronic monitoring, and he must not possess firearms while on bond, court records show.
But on Nov. 4, 2023, Goodwin was charged with multiple weapons crimes, including two counts of pointing and presenting firearms at a person, as well as a count of sale or delivery of pistol to, and possession by, certain persons unlawful; stolen pistol, court records show.
Goodwin is still being held at the Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center on the charges from the November arrest, jail records show.
