Emotions high as George Good plea agreement in Brinklow murder case accepted by court

Friday afternoon, August 13, Warren County Circuit Court Judge William Sharp accepted the plea agreement submitted by the Commonwealth in the cases of 29-year-old George Lee Good related and unrelated to the September 2019 murder of Tristen Brinklow. As explained in Royal Examiner’s story of July 29 on the announced plea agreement with the second involved man the prosecution believes was Brinklow’s killer, Richard Matthew Crouch, Good pled guilty to seven charges, two related to the Brinklow murder.

The latter two charges, concealing a dead body and defiling a dead body, resulted in sentences of five years on each count, with no time suspended on the concealment of the body charge, and all five years suspended on the defilement charge. It was explained during Friday afternoon’s hearing by Commonwealth Attorney John Bell that the defilement charge relates to a state code about leaving a body to decompose.

Good also received five-year sentences on his guilty pleas to the other five charges, with all but one year suspended on each sentence. So, Good will serve a total of 10 years, with 25 years suspended, but hanging over his head when he is released from prison, should he be convicted of any crime while on 10 years’ probation, the first five supervised and the last five unsupervised.

George Lee Good; below, Tristen Brinklow from his Facebook page

The one-hour hearing beginning at 2:45 p.m. had some emotional moments. The victim Tristen Brinklow’s mother, Jennifer Brinklow, was called by the commonwealth to make a statement on the impact on her life of her son’s murder four days after his 20th birthday. In tears, she pointed out the sentence on her is life – that she will never again hear her son tell her he loved her; that she will never be able to watch him grow into adulthood to become the auto mechanic shop owner he hoped one day to be.

“My son was in the wrong place at the wrong time and never came home,” she said, focusing on Goods presence at the scene of the crime, his motel room where the prosecution contends he watched Richard Crouch beat her son to death after all three men had done methamphetamine. In fact, Commonwealth’s Attorney Bell said it was believed that Crouch had been awake on methamphetamines for three consecutive days as he avoided arrest on other violence-related charges, and was essentially in a “paranoid methamphetamine haze” when he decided Brinklow had information related to his previous crimes and was wearing some of his clothes, leading to the fatal physical attack.

“The defendant watched. He could have done something … but he did nothing. What kind of person watches a crime like this happen?” Tristen’s mother asked the court.

Later, given an opportunity to address the court on the pending agreement, Good turned toward Jennifer Brinklow and said, “I’m sorry I didn’t do more, do more to stop it. But it happened fast,” here Good hesitated, appearing to struggle with his emotions before continuing, “I didn’t know this would be the end result. I’m sorry.”

After reciting circumstances of the case in prefacing his acceptance of the plea deal, Judge Sharp noted four pillars of criminal prosecutions – deterrence, rehabilitation, containment, and retribution. Of Good’s apology to Tristen Brinklow’s mother, Judge Sharp said, “I hope your apology was sincere,” citing it as a possible first step on the road to rehabilitation. Noting the 20-plus years of suspended time hanging over his head after serving his 10 years, Sharp told Good, “I hope you fly straight,” at which point Good nodded “yes”.

“Good luck to you,” Judge Sharp concluded, to which Good replied, “Thank you.”

However, following the hearing’s 3:45 p.m. adjournment as she and some demonstrators in support of her son and a harsher sentence for Good waited along with the media outside the courthouse for the afternoon thunderstorm rain to subside, Mrs. Brinklow spoke to the two reporters present. Did she think Good’s apology was sincere?

“In my gut, no … If he meant it, fine; but in my gut, no,” she repeated, pointing to Good’s previous criminal track record and history of manipulation of others.

The other five guilty pleas unrelated to her son’s murder entered by Good Friday were for obstruction of justice (interference with a witness), conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine; distribution of methamphetamine; possession of a firearm by a convicted felon; and malicious wounding, the latter related to a non-fatal shooting incident.

Bell explained the impetus for the Good plea deal in a case where each suspect pointed to the other as the murderer, as coming from evidence Good led authorities to that seemed to substantiate his version of events. This led the prosecution to view Good as a key witness against the believed murderer, and as an accessory after the fact in the murder, rather than a participant.

Following the hearing, Jamie Brown, who organized the “Justice for Tristen” rally outside the courthouse Friday, promised a larger one on November 29, when the court considers the proposed plea agreement with Crouch.

Richard Matthew Crouch will have his plea agreement before the court on Nov. 29. He is facing 30 to 40 years in prison as the believed murderer of Tristen Brinklow. Corrections Department Photos of Good, Crouch

‘Justice for Tristen’ demonstrators outside WC Courthouse Friday afternoon sought more than the plea-agreement sentence recommendation of 10 years served for George Good’s role in Tristen Brinklow’s death. Photo by Mark Williams, Royal Examiner.

As previously reported in the above-referenced July 29 story (“Dynamics of second Brinklow murder plea deal explained”), the plea agreement for Crouch indicates a possible total of 60 years’ incarceration, with 20 years recommended suspended, leaving 40 years facing the 38-year-old. Commonwealth Attorney Bell added that if the Crouch plea agreement is accepted by the court, with sentencing guidelines applied, it was likely Crouch would serve 29 to 31 years of the recommended 40. With no probation currently in Viriginia, Bell noted the defendant would be in his late 60’s at the time of his projected release.