Jury trial rescheduled for next spring in Goodwin case

A Cherokee County jury will be empaneled next spring to hear a civilly committed sex offender’s claims that his psychologist manipulated him into an emotional affair in 2019.

Cherokee County District Court Judge John Sandy scheduled a five-day jury trial beginning April 23, 2024, to hear Jeff Goodwin’s claims that Shannon Sanders manipulated Goodwin into an emotional affair in 2019. The trial, originally scheduled for October, was set for next April because the discovery process is "taking longer than usual,” according to Goodwin’s attorney, Brad Schroeder of Des Moines.

Schroeder noted in a filing earlier this month that the protections Sandy imposed have lengthened the discovery process. For example, much of the information Schroeder gathers during discovery is attorney’s eyes only, meaning his client won’t have access. Goodwin is also barred from seeing any information regarding Sanders’ whereabouts because he was essentially too dangerous to be trusted with it.

The case centers on a series of meetings Goodwin and Sanders held outside of CCUSO’s surveillance systems, which were managed by Sanders’ husband Trevor.

Schroeder claimed Sanders essentially used Goodwin as a “test subject” for her pleasure. The two met outside CCUSO’s surveillance systems four to five times per month from February 2019 to June 2019, according to Schroeder. During those meetings, Goodwin would allegedly masturbate in front of her; they would watch pornography together and he would write sexually motivated stories about her.

Sanders was terminated from her role as treatment program supervisor for developing what CCUSO administrators deemed an “improperly close” relationship with Goodwin.

But both the state and Sanders have denied Goodwin’s allegations of what went on during the meetings and who fostered the relationship.

Stan Thompson, a deputy attorney general to Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird, claimed Goodwin “manipulated her to gain advantage in his efforts to be released.” A sworn affidavit filed by CCUSO Deputy Supt. Brad Wittrock claimed Goodwin put Sanders “in a compromised position and then taking actions to her detriment and the detriment of CCUSO.” Sanders “strongly denies” Goodwin’s claims, Thompson noted in a filing earlier this month. (Sanders hasn’t addressed the matter since Goodwin sued the state and the civil commitment unit last May. Her whereabouts are unknown.)

Both sides are also at odds over how many meetings the pair had.

Thompson claimed Goodwin’s lawsuit centers on three meetings between Goodwin and Sanders in June 2019.

Schroeder asserted the pair met “many more times” than what Thompson acknowledged.

“An average of four to five times per month beginning in February 2019 and running through June of 2019,” said Schroeder when asked how many times his client met with Sanders outside of CCUSO's surveillance systems.

No evidence of the meetings has been disclosed outside of what was alleged by Goodwin and a recent filing by Thompson. The Cherokee Police Department and an unnamed state agency investigated Goodwin's claim that he was subject to dependent abuse. The Cherokee Police Department found “zero evidence” the two shared a physical relationship despite a review of “countless hours” of CCUSO surveillance tapes. Police Chief Nate James declined to comment on the content his office reviewed in 2019.

An investigation the civil commitment unit conducted in 2019 found Sanders “intentionally omitted significant information during” an initial interview. It also found Sanders committed “boundary violations” and did special favors for a patient, but it didn’t specify who the patient was. (Goodwin’s previous attorney, Jason Dunn, outlined his client’s allegations and specified Goodwin as a victim to the Associated Press in 2019.)