New York judge dismisses murder indictment of state trooper charged in 2020 in car ramming of New York girl Monica Goodes

A judge in Upstate Ulster County on Thursday indicted murder charges against a state trooper accused of killing a Queens girl who crashed her police car at 130 mph into her family’s SUV.

Supreme Court Justice Brian Rounds dismissed the lead charge of second-degree murder in the case against state trooper Christopher Boldner in connection with the death of 11-year-old Monica Goodes in December 2020.

The judge upheld the lesser charge of manslaughter and denied defense attorneys’ motions to dismiss the indictment outright.

The office of Attorney General Letitia James said it was reviewing the decision.

Baldner’s trial was due to begin on March 6, but an appeal against Round’s decision could push the trial to the end of this year.

Baldner, released on bail, was framed for Monica’s murder by crashing his police car into the back of an SUV driven by her father, who was running from Baldner after a soldier sprayed pepper spray on him during a traffic stop.

The SUV overturned and Monica died on the spot.

Rounds wrote that Baldner ignored state police protocols when he twice rammed an SUV driven by Monica’s father, Tristin Goodes.

But he said ramming a vehicle during a pursuit — known as a “pit maneuver” — is rarely permitted by state police.

“The evidence rationally supports only the conclusion that (Baldner) disregarded agency (state police) protocols and exercised extremely short-sighted judgment in a foolish attempt to get his job done – in short, he acted recklessly,” the judge wrote.

Recklessness is the definition of manslaughter.

But Joseph O’Connor, the lawyer who represents Tristin Goodes in the lawsuit against the state police and Baldner, said he completely disagreed with Round’s reasoning and said that the depraved indifference shown by Baldner was consistent with a charge of second-degree murder.

“This is a man who ran his car at 130 miles per hour, essentially, at two little kids, and when he didn’t succeed, he did it again,” O’Connor said. “If this is not depraved indifference, then I don’t know what is. State soldiers are trained so they know the actions that can harm human life. I’m amazed by this decision.”