The criminal case against Gideon Goodeagle has already been dragging on for more than two years, and on Sept.10, it was continued once again, derailing a trial that had been slated to begin six days hence.
Tara K. Jack, an assistant district attorney in Osage County who is prosecuting Goodeagle for the alleged rape of a woman back in June of 2022, said that new evidence that might clear Goodeagle, was uncovered on Sept. 6, requiring the delay so both the state and Goodeagle’s defense attorney could investigate. The new evidence involves a cell phone and a journal. In addition, Jack said that an out-of-state police officer’s testimony needs to be plumbed.
Goodeagle, 50, was charged with first-degree rape after a woman accused him of sexually assaulting her in Hominy after the two had been drinking.
The woman, whose memory of the events on June 15, 2022, is hazy, according to police affidavits, tried to rebuff Goodeagle and later called her boyfriend for a ride. She went to Tulsa, where she underwent a sexual assault examination at Hillcrest Hospital. The exam found evidence of sexual assault.
Goodeagle was alleged to have been on the lam for several days, but Hominy police obtained a search warrant for his cell phone and eventually tracked him down at a hotel in Springfield, Mo., where he was arrested on June 24, 2022.
Goodeagle had been represented by Rod Ramsey, who died in a motorcycle accident last year. Ramsey was replaced by Holli Wells, another attorney who works with the Oklahoma Indigent Defense System. Wells is also the former Attorney General of the Osage Nation as well as a former Osage County prosecutor.
Goodeagle’s new trial date has not been scheduled but his pre-trial hearing date was reset for Nov. 21, by which time both sides in the case should have had time to weigh the newly discovered evidence.
