Man Convicted in Savage Killing of Boy Gets 25-to-Life
By Henry K. Lee, Chronicle Staff Writer
Originally published in The San Francisco Chronicle, July 10, 2002
SAN FRANCISCO — A San Francisco man was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison today for killing a 3-year-old boy in a savage beating that his attorney had blamed on the child's mother.
Patrick Goodman, 27, showed no emotion as Judge Jerome Benson gave him the maximum sentence for the Dec. 6, 2000, slaying of Elijah Sanderson at his Ingleside District home.
Prosecutors said Elijah was killed by 54 blows that severed his aorta, broke his neck and turned his liver into pulp. The city's medical examiner called it the worst case of child abuse he had seen in more than 30 years on the job.
A San Francisco Superior Court jury that was shown photos of Elijah's battered face and body agreed in May, convicting Goodman of second-degree murder and child abuse.
Goodman's attorney, Deputy Public Defender Stephen Rosen, maintained his client's innocence during the trial and accused Goodman's girlfriend, Cheryl Sanderson, of killing Elijah.
The boy was last seen alive in the care of Goodman, authorities said. Elijah had spent the night vomiting from the flu, had tried to make his own breakfast, then had gone back to bed to watch TV while his siblings went to school.
Goodman told police he had discovered Elijah dead in that bed and said the boy might have been fatally injured when he fell from his scooter.
But it was clear almost immediately that the injuries were far too severe for that, and Goodman was arrested within days.
During the trial, Goodman suggested that Sanderson was responsible for the killing because she despised the child of the man who left her at the altar, once knocking the little boy into a wall and repeatedly tossing him around by his braided hair.
Sanderson, 31, made a statement in court today, assailing Goodman for killing her son and for accusing her in the death of "an innocent, defenseless baby."
"He blamed me and everyone else but himself," said Sanderson, urging Benson to impose the maximum sentence. "He has managed to rip apart my whole family. I have to explain to my children why this happened."
Sanderson herself faces charges of felony child abuse and endangerment, although plea bargaining is under way, said Deputy District Attorney Bob Gordon.
Under a proposed agreement, Sanderson would plead guilty to felony child abuse, perform community service, undergo child-rearing counseling and be placed on three years' probation.
After that, Sanderson could ask that her felony conviction be reduced to a misdemeanor, Gordon said.
Sanderson, the mother of four other children, often said she wished Elijah was dead or had never been born, attorneys in the case say. One time she punched him so hard he was knocked off his feet and hit a wall, siblings have told officials.
Following Sanderson's statement in court today, she was assailed by Goodman's mother, Sondra Goodman, 48, who yelled at her as Sanderson returned to her seat.
Outside court, Sondra Goodman said, "They have the wrong person. My son is innocent."
Gordon described Patrick Goodman in court as a "murderer and a coward" for blaming the child's mother for the killing.
In an interview, Gordon said, "Justice was done in that the killer of this little child will spend the rest of his life in prison."
