February 10, 2017
For Immediate Release
Contact: Tim Connolly 508-368-7236
Or 508-688-5565
WORCESTER – The Supreme Judicial Court this week affirmed the murder conviction of William Goddard in the shooting death of a woman in Webster in January of 2008, according to Worcester County District Attorney Joseph D. Early Jr.
Goddard was indicted by a Worcester County Grand Jury in June of 2008 and a Superior Court jury found him guilty of first degree murder in October of 2012. His conviction was subject to an automatic appeal to the SJC. The court affirmed the conviction on Thursday.
The evidence showed that on January 28, 2008, Goddard shot and killed his former girlfriend at a business on Railroad Avenue in Webster. The woman was pronounced dead at Hubbard Regional Hospital that day. A man also was wounded in the shooting; he survived.
Goddard fled Webster and was eventually tracked to a field off Jones Road in Berlin. After a standoff with State Police negotiators, he was subdued and arrested.