The Kickham Comment - Boston Criminal Attorney Blog
In my previous post, I discussed the events surrounding the unsolved murder of Dr. Linda Goudey and the successful wrongful death lawsuit brought by her family, against Dr. Timothy Stryker, whom they believe murdered Dr. Goudey in 1993. Earlier this week, Dr. Stryker was arrested by police and charged – but not with murder. Instead, he was charged with multiple counts of perjury, conspiracy to commit perjury, bribing a witness as well as multiple counts of subornation of perjury (“subornation of perjury” means orchestrating a plan of perjury with another person.) Why these charges? Read on.
The charges against Dr. Stryker surround what police say was an elaborate plot by Stryker to escape the $15 million civil judgment that Dr. Linda Goudey’s family previously obtained against him, in their wrongful death suit brought in Middlesex Superior Court. Police investigators say that Stryker hatched a twisted scheme to find and pay someone to come forward and claim that he (the new witness) saw Dr. Goudey with another man the evening of her murder, not with Timothy Stryker as has been reported. Investigators say that Stryker attempted to use this man’s sworn but false affidavit to re-open the civil case that Dr. Goudey’s family won against him, hoping to secure a new trial, and using the “new” witness’ testimony, void the resulting $15 million judgment the court had ordered him to pay to her family. To secure such a witness, Stryker allegedly solicited his handyman and longtime patient to help assemble the plan, allegedly promising him $100,000 in cash and a ready supply of Oxycontin, a powerful painkiller often used to treat cancer patients.
This handyman, Richard Chambers, allegedly reached out to a friend in Derry, New Hampshire, who then contacted a player from his (the friend’s) hockey league, named Craig Pizzano. Prosecutors have alleged that Pizzano was ultimately sought out to play the role of the “new witness” because he had recently lost his job and needed some “easy money”. Via Chambers, Stryker allegedly offered to pay Pizzano another $100,000 if he testified in court (at the new civil trial Stryker hoped for) that he Goudey with another man the night of her murder, and not with Stryker. Carefully coached in advance complete with maps and diagrams of the crime scene, Pizzano appeared in 2006 with a sworn statement that Stryker’s lawyer then used to try and re-open the civil case that Dr. Goudey’s family previously won against him. Soon after Stryker’s lawyer admitted that sworn statement to the court, Pizzano testified before a grand jury that he had seen Dr. Goudey in her car the night of the murder, with a man who resembled Boomer Esiason, a retired NFL quarterback who has blond hair, and not with Stryker, who has brown hair.
However, police investigators, suspicious of the ‘new witness’, uncovered various phone records, medical records and bank statements connecting Stryker, Chambers and Pizzano. When authorities approached Pizzano with this evidence, he broke down and revealed the elaborate plot. In exchange for his testimony against Stryker and Chambers, prosecutors agreed not to charge Pizzano. Not so lucky Stryker, however: He was charged with multiple counts of misleading a police officer, perjury, subornation of perjury, conspiracy to commit perjury, bribing a witness, and was held on $100.000 bail. Chambers was also charged with similar counts and was ordered held on $50,000 bail. Both pleaded not guilty.
Will these new developments and criminal charges against Stryker lead to what Linda Goudey’s family hopes are long past due murder charges against him? That’s not so easy a leap. If convicted of these charges, all such convictions would arguably demonstrate, is that Timothy Stryker is a dishonest person who concocted lies to avoid a $15 million civil judgment against him. Convictions on the charges he now faces, if such convictions occur, would not necessarily constitute admissible evidence that he committed this murder. However, there is no statute of limitation on murder in Massachusetts, so time is on the police and prosecutors” side in this case.
Stay tuned.