BEAUMONT, Texas — A man formerly on death row, whose capital murder conviction was overturned, now has a chance to go home as he awaits a new trial after a judge set his bond Thursday.
Joseph Colone, Jr. was formerly sentenced to death in 2017 for the 2010 murder of Mary Goodman and her then 16-year-old daughter Brianna Goodman at their residence in the 4600 block of Hartel Street in Beaumont's South End.
Colone, who first asked to be released on bond in November 2022, has had his bond set at $750,000 according to the 252nd District Court.
Judge Susan Brown, a visiting judge out of Harris County, set the bond on Thursday morning.
The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals overturned Colone's 2017 capital murder conviction on March 2, 2022.
The decision to overturn the conviction came on what would have been Brianna Goodman’s 28th birthday.
He was tried before Judge Raquel West in 252nd District Court in 2017 and found guilty by a jury in the 2010 death.
Colone's 2017 trial was "unfair" because of errors related to forensic evidence, his public defenders said in a statement.
"These were two witnesses,” District Attorney Bob Wortham previously told 12News. “They lost their life, because they had the nerve to come forward and tell us what was going on. And who the guy that actually did the robbery and, so he executed our two witnesses."
Prosecutors said in court that Colone killed them at home after Mary Goodman said she witnessed him rob a Beaumont game room.
"This is the worst case that I've seen since I've been DA," Wortham said.
DNA evidence helped the state win their case especially when they found Mary Goodman’s blood inside Colone’s getaway car and on a glove they said he was wearing at the murder scene, according to prosecutors.
It took the jury about two hours to make their decision to sentence him to death.
"As my eight years of sending as DA, this was the only case I had approved for a death penalty case because I don't really believe in the death penalty,” Wortham said. “But there are times when it's the only option. And in this case, it was the only option."
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During the trial prosecutors said that Cologne's DNA "could not be excluded from a mixture of DNA that was found on a glove and towel at the scene" according to his public defenders.
The glove and the towel were the only pieces of evidence that appeared to place Colone at the crime scene his attorneys now say.
His defenders say that lab notes they found after his conviction showed that the glove and towel were shipped in a cooler along with cuttings from a t-shirt taken from Colone after his arrest 10 days after the murders.
When an analyst at the lab examined the evidence he found that it had been left in the cooler unrefrigerated for more than 30 days according to the lab notes.
During that time cold packs had thawed and the bottom of the cooler was coated with an unidentified "foul-smelling" liquid the lab notes said.
Colone's attorneys argued that the lab notes contradicted trial testimony that the DNA evidence had been properly maintained before the trial.
"DNA experts also said the conditions in the cooler could have compromised the evidence in ways that could neither be conclusively detected nor ruled out," the statement from Colone's defense said.
Now, they're back to square one.
"Everything's starting beginning. We'll have to prove up every fact even the fact that it occurred in Jefferson County. We have to prove up every single fact that is in the indictment," Wortham said.
Colone does not need to be indicted again in the case as he is still facing the original indictment, according to Jefferson County Assistant District Attorney Wayln Thompson.
"This has to do with relief being granted because of annotation in the laboratory file that the prosecutors were not aware of," Thompson previously 12News.
The defense was entitled to see the lab notes as they could have formulated a defense based on them.
"Unfortunately the prosecutors never had the opportunity to see this note," he said.
The case will be placed back on the trial docket, Thompson said.
Friends of family of the mother and daughter were heartbroken over this decision. They are frustrated about having to relive the painful trial experience all over again.
“It’s frustrating, because we thought it was over in 2017,” Andre Goodman, family member of Mary and Brianna Goodman, previously told 12News. “All we want is closure. It ain't like they are lost somewhere. All we want is closure, that's it. It don't even look like we are going to get that.”
Andre Goodman said his family has not stopped thinking about his sister and niece since the day they were murdered inside of their home. They have also not been able to stop thinking about Cologne.
“We housing him for 12 years," Andre Goodman said. "You know, my sister and my niece don't have a fighting chance. This guy is doing everything to try to set himself free.”
Family of Mary and Brianna Goodman said it still feels like yesterday.
“And poor little Brianna, she was just a kid,” Andre Goodman said. “She was just a kid. You know, she was just a kid. You killed a little kid. They was good, and Brianna and my dad, aww man, that was my dad's pride and joy.”
The appeals court argued that there was mishandled evidence that could possibly lead to a different sentence instead of the death penalty.
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This is a developing story. We will update with more if and when we receive more confirmed information.
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