Man offered to sway jury in Goodman trial for $500,000, FBI says. For $500,000, a Vermont felon promised to sway the jury serving on John Goodmans DUI manslaughter retrial in his favor, authorities say.. In a series of text messages to a defense witness and Goodman pal, James Perron said a relative of his could influence the jurors, the FBI said. He said he could guarantee at least a hung jury, but if his actions resulted in an acquittal, he would need $1 million from Goodman, the wealthy heir to a heating and air conditioning business. I can tell you that my relitive [sic] has indicated that its [sic] possible to persuade others and the fact is if not the jury will be hung, Perron wrote in a text message sent to the cellphone of Kris Kampsen, a polo player who once played on Goodmans team. Details of the alleged fraud were made public Friday in a federal criminal complaint against Perron. The 48-year-old Tinmouth, Vt., man was nabbed Oct. 26 in a sting set up by authorities after Kampsen, who said he did not recognize the phone number, reported the messages. Perron faces federal wire fraud charges out of Palm Beach County, where the Goodman retrial was held last month. Three days after Perrons arrest, Goodmans retrial ended with a second conviction for the 51-year-old International Polo Club founder in the 2010 death of Scott Patrick Wilson, 23. Afterward, Chief Assistant State Attorney Alan Johnson said the Perron incident did not affect the retrial. What we can say is that it had nothing to do with our jurors, he told reporters outside the courthouse that day. The attempted jury tampering was just the latest juror-related issue to plague the case. Goodman was convicted in 2012, but the verdict and his 16-year prison sentence were thrown out due to juror misconduct. While jury selection was underway for the second trial last month, a prospective juror was arrested for violating a court order by searching Google for details of the case and telling another panel member it was a retrial. And when the case went to trial, one sequestered juror reported being heckled while standing on the balcony of her hotel room. Another went against a court order by getting online in his hotel room. Both were dismissed as alternates. In the latest incident, authorities say Perron reached out to Kampsen through text messages with an offer to help Goodman. The first message from Perron to Kampsen came on Oct. 21, the day Kampsen — owner of the man cave where Goodman says he drank after the crash — testified in the trial. It asked if he could get a private message to John, his friend, the complaint said. Kampsen, who did not recognize the number, tried to figure out who sent the text but could not. Then he called the police. The next day, Kampsen turned over his phone to Palm Beach County sheriffs deputies, who posed as him in text messages sent to the person later identified as Perron. In messages riddled with spelling and grammatical errors, Perron laid out the terms for his offer: 500.000 [sic] in advance. Another to hang it if it cannot sway or 1,000.000 [sic] for acquittal. ... In one hour if not agreed you will not hear from me again. An investigator in subsequent text messages to Kampsen referred to the requested amount as $500,000, asking how Goodman could be assured that his money wouldnt be wasted. Perron replied in a text that the jury would be hung, and that he was risking committing a crime. Underestandably its [sic] a chance on his part but that is choice at this time, he said, according to the complaint. The report didnt specify why Perron reached out to Kampsen, or how he found his contact information. Perron is a Vermont handyman and felon who served more than 10 years in prison after allegedly choking a woman, according to a report published earlier this year by the Daily Scarsdale (N.Y.) Voice news website. In 1989, Perron had pleaded guilty to charges of rape and attempted murder in the womans attack at a bar. But his conviction was overturned, and in 2002 he made a deal agreeing to plead guilty to attempted second-degree murder and became immediately eligible for parole. In May of this year, Perron was in trouble again, accused of stealing more than $50,000 from an elderly couple in Scarsdale, according to the Scarsdale Voice report. That case was still pending when he began texting Kampsen. The text messages between Perron and authorities posing as Kampsen went on for several days. Then the authorities texted him to say they had the money. Perron replied that he wanted to have the cash drop on the East Coast, and he and the person he believed to be Kampsen agreed on Albany, setting up a meeting for that Sunday, Oct. 26. That day, two investigators went to an Albany-area Hilton Garden Inn, where Perron wanted to meet. They found him standing by the front window in the lobby. Perron asked one of the investigators twice, Are you Kris? the complaint said. When they introduced themselves as law enforcement, Perron asked for a lawyer. He was immediately taken into custody. Admin/Sharon.... sun-sentinel/local/palm-beach/fl-goodman-juror-tampering-20141107-story.html
Posted on: Mon, 10 Nov 2014 22:00:00 +0000
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