Judge tracker
Judge William R. Goodman III's record in serious criminal cases
About the judge
Circuit Court Judge, Montgomery and Robertson counties (Tenn.)
William R. “Bill” Goodman III is a Tennessee circuit judge for Montgomery and Robertson counties, elected in 2014 and re-elected unopposed in 2022. Matthew Konen entered his 2021 not-guilty plea in Goodman's courtroom; news reports haven't named the judge who presided at Konen's 2026 trial. Goodman practiced law for 37 years, most recently in Springfield, Tenn., before taking the bench.
Elected; on the bench since 2014
Bench Watch Brief · What the data shows
Bench Watch logs decisions by Judge William R. Goodman III of Tennessee's Circuit Court for Montgomery and Robertson counties in serious criminal cases, from Court of Criminal Appeals opinions and news reports. It isn't a complete record. In the one case where both sides' requests were reported, he sentenced near the top of the range.
12 entries · select a column to sort
| Source | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | State v. Miracle A'sha Bailey and Robert Jaylen Holland | Sentences: first-degree murder (joint jury trial) | Effective life for each | Affirmed on appeal | Source | |
| 2025 | State v. Christopher Glenn Clark | Sentence: first-degree murder | Life plus 25 years | Consecutive terms vacated on appeal for lack of findings | Source | |
| 2025 | State v. Scott Alan Haynes Jr. | Sentence: second-degree murder and reckless endangerment | 18 years, plus 2 consecutive | The defense argued several mitigating factors; he found one | Lower part of the 15-to-25-year range; affirmed | Source |
| 2024 | State v. Gustavio Rousseau | Sentence: attempted first-degree murder (open guilty plea) | 24 years, consecutive to an 8-year aggravated robbery sentence | State: 25 years (the maximum); defense: 15 (the minimum) | Near the top of the range; affirmed | Source |
| 2024 | A Montgomery County man (name withheld to protect a child) | Sentence: attempted aggravated sexual battery of children (best-interest pleas) | 6 years on each of two counts, consecutive (12 years); probation denied | The maximum on each count; affirmed | Source | |
| 2024 | State v. Kireek Kaseem Steele | Sentence: rape, rape of a child and three other sexual offenses (jury trial) | 30 years effective | Affirmed | Source | |
| 2023 | State v. Timothy Hutcherson | Sentence: second-degree murder and attempted second-degree murder | 23 years effective | Affirmed | Source | |
| 2023 | State v. Yvette Adele Slee | Conviction: first-degree felony murder (bench trial). The child died in 2018 of complications from injuries for which she was convicted of aggravated child abuse and attempted murder in 2013; the appeals court affirmed Jan. 27, 2023 | Found her guilty as indicted | Affirmed | Source | |
| 2022Election year | State v. DeAngelo LeQuinte Berry | Sentence: felony murder and aggravated robbery | Life plus 9 years | Consecutive order upheld; affirmed | Source | |
| 2022Election year | State v. Michael Mimms | Sentence: facilitation of first-degree murder and conspiracy | Concurrent 15-year terms | Affirmed | Source | |
| 2022Election year | State v. Kemontea Dovon McKinney | Trial ruling: admitting the defendant's statement | Admitted it | Reversed: all convictions set aside and a new trial ordered; on retrial, the premeditated-murder charge is limited to second-degree murder | Source | |
| 2020 | State v. Jordan Michael Hazel (sentenced 2020) | Plea: three counts of first-degree murder | Accepted a plea deal for three life sentences with parole eligibility after 110 years | A negotiated plea | Source |
How we built this
This tracker counts Judge Goodman's sentences and key rulings in serious criminal cases, meaning homicide, sex crimes and other violent felonies, and major federal crimes, plus rulings in cases Bench Watch follows. The goal is to cover the judge's whole time on the bench, so we log the most recent five years first, then work back, and the “Covers” line shows the years logged so far. Each row links to its source, whether a court record, an appeals opinion, an official release or a news report.
This is not a complete record. Tennessee doesn't publish sentencing data by judge; most rows come from appeals opinions that name him as the trial judge, so they cover only cases that were appealed. The year is the appeals opinion's year unless noted. Bench Watch adds decisions as it confirms them.
We leave “What each side asked” blank when the source didn't report it. “Compared with the options” sets the decision against what the law allowed, the sentencing guidelines and any joint recommendation, as reported in the source. We don't name victims. When naming a defendant would identify a child victim, we withhold the name.