Trial begins for man accused of killing couple and child in Orange County home
Prosecutors said they will show text messages between Kaliek Goode-Ford and Jimmy Crisantos indicating the men knew each other well, and that Goode-Ford's motive to attack the family was his suspicion that Crisantos was having an affair with Goode-Ford's girlfriend.
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As he was escorted by deputies into the Orange County Courthouse Friday for the first day of a two-week trial, 35-year-old Kaliek Goode-Ford told News 12 he was "optimistic," and that "I'm about to prove myself innocent."
Goode-Ford is accused of killing Jimmy and Shatavia Crisantos, ages 27 and 26, and Shatavia's son, Giovanni Tambino, 9, at the Crisantos' Town of Newburgh home in January 2020.
He is also accused of shooting another child, age 3, multiple times. That child survived.
Goode-Ford was charged with three counts of first-degree murder, one count of second-degree attempted murder and one count of tampering with evidence.
In his opening statement, Orange County Assistant District Attorney Richard Moran said the prosecution will rely on video, forensics and a handful of witnesses.
Prosecutors plan to question a cab driver who brought Goode-Ford and a woman to the Crisantos' home on Route 300 early that morning.
The cab driver is expected to testify that she brought the two to the home, and heard five gun shots while the two were inside.
Goode-Ford's companion first came back to cab telling the driver to take her to the police department, Moran said, but Goode-Ford arrived a moment later, hopped in the front seat and told the driver to take them to his friend's house in Clintondale, Ulster County.
After dropping the two off at the home, the female passenger mouthed, 'Help me' toward the driver, who immediately drove to the police department.
Moran said Goode-Ford burned a jacket in a fire pit behind the Clintondale home and later left in a car belonging to the owners of the home.
Prosecutors plan to show the jury various clips of surveillance video to support their theory that Goode-Ford drove to the Hudson River to dispose of the murder weapon, a 9mm pistol with an extended magazine.
Divers found the magazine on Jan. 30 and found the pistol on Jan. 31 at the bottom of the river.
Moran will also show text messages between Goode-Ford and Crisantos that Moran said will indicate the men knew each other well and that Goode-Ford's motive to attack the family was his suspicion that Crisantos was having an affair with Goode-Ford's girlfriend.
"I'll give you one last chance to meet up like a man," prosecutors said Goode-Ford wrote in one text message to Crisantos, "or I'm just going to say f--- it."
Another text expected to be shown to the jury reads, "I'm trying to keep s--- away from family, but keep f—-ing around."
Moran also plans to use recorded phone calls from jail, in which he claims Goode-Ford spoke in code in an effort to silence other people close to the situation, including the owners of the Clintondale home.
Goode-Ford's attorney Orrin Fullerton said in his opening statement that while his client is "an imperfect person," he is not guilty of murder and that the prosecution's theory is flawed.
Fullerton plans to ask the cab driver why she only heard five shots at the Crisantos' home before Goode-Ford returned to the cab, since investigators determined that 20 shots were fired in the home.
Fullerton asked the jury not to immediately accept the prosecution's surveillance video, saying some of it is too grainy to be relied upon.
Fullerton also pointed out in his opening argument that New York State Police investigators failed to conduct all necessary forensic resting of the scene, some of which would favor his client's defense, and that no DNA of Goode's was found in Crisantos' home, nor the cab.
Fullerton, though, did not directly contend that Goode may not have been in the in the home or the cab.
Other witnesses expected to testify include the owner of the Clintondale home, the next door neighbor who discovered the murder scene, and a forensics expert who will tell the jury the gun found in the river discharged all of the 20 shots fired at the Crisantos' home.
