Mom asks for max sentence of father who slammed, threw 19-day-old son

CEDAR RAPIDS — The mother of a 19-day-old baby named Elijah, who died after being repeatedly thrown and slammed to the floor by his father, said in a statement Friday that a “fair” sentence for the father would be life in prison.

“Thank you for giving me justice for my baby boy,” Caitlyn Ruiz, of Marion, said in a statement read by Linn County Attorney Nick Maybanks during the sentencing of Samuel Elijah Goodwin, 24, of Cedar Rapids, in Linn County District Court.

Maybanks, in his recommendation to the court, said the sentence for child endangerment resulting in death is up to 50 years but that a judge has discretion to impose a 30 percent to 70 percent mandatory minimum that a defendant must serve before being eligible for parole.

Maybanks pointed out the infant endured “torture and cruelty” because the child “cried and aggravated the defendant” during the overnight hours of April 3 and 4, 2021.

An autopsy showed the baby boy had multiple head injuries, deep scalp contusions, about 14 facial abrasions and eight contusions to the inner scalp. The infant also had bleeding in the brain, eyes and spine.

According to court documents, Goodwin didn’t seek medical attention for the child. He put him in a bouncer, covered him up and left him overnight. The child died in the bouncer.

Maybanks, calling Goodwin’s actions “barbaric,” asked that Goodwin serve 70 percent of a 50-year sentence, or 35 years, before being eligible for parole.

Goodwin’s lawyer, Todd Weimer, asked the judge for a 30 percent mandatory minimum, saying Goodwin was remorseful and that his actions were out of character for him. His actions, he said, weren’t “premeditated,” Goodwin acted “impulsively,” and he wasn’t trying to be cruel.

Weimer also pointed out that Goodwin cooperated with the investigation and confessed to what he had done.

Weimer noted Goodwin hadn’t had parental role models because both of his parents were drug addicts and died of overdoses when Goodwin was a young teen. His grandfather adopted him but died several months later.

Goodwin, with his head hung down, declined to speak during sentencing.

Sentencing

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Sixth Judicial District Judge Jason Besler split the difference and sentenced Goodwin to serve a mandatory minimum of 25 years of the up to 50-year sentence before being eligible for parole.

Goodwin, during a plea hearing in November, admitted to intentional acts or a series of acts of unreasonable force that resulted in the death of his child, Elijah, during the overnight hours of April 3-4, 2021, at a Marion home where he lived at the time.

Goodwin told Marion police he was the sole caretaker of his son during those overnight hours when the baby wouldn’t stop crying and wouldn’t take a bottle, according to a criminal complaint. He said he couldn’t wake the baby’s mother and he became “flustered and irritated.”

Goodwin first told police he dropped the infant at least two times, the complaint stated. He then admitted to throwing his son into a crib, causing his head to hit the side of the crib and then the floor. Goodwin slammed the baby’s head twice into the floor.

The father told police he put his baby in a bouncer, covered him, went downstairs and “hoped for the best,” according to the complaint. He told investigators he knew he was responsible for the infant’s death.

Marion police officers and medical personnel were called about 9:40 a.m. April 4, 2021, to 430 Ninth St., on a report that an infant was not responsive and not breathing.

The case was suspended last year when the defense argued Goodwin was incompetent to stand trial. He underwent a mental evaluation and was found competent to stand trial.

Comments: (319) 398-8318; trish.mehaffey@thegazette.com

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