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An Assistant U.S. Attorney involved in the criminal prosecution against Domina Law Group’s client, John Good, has refused to ask for incarceration over Good’s alleged participation in two other suspects’ conspiracy to harbor illegal immigrants and engage in money laundering.
As reported by the Lincoln Journal Star, Assistant U.S. Attorney Lesley Woods stated during a sentencing hearing on Friday, May 29, 2020 that she would not request any incarceration in the case against Good, who reached a misdemeanor plea agreement with prosecutors after a Federal Judge tossed the central claim against the semi-retired businessman from Atkinson, Nebraska in November.
"I obviously would not even ask for an hour or a minute of incarceration time," Woods said during the sentencing hearing.
Good, who owned a Mexican restaurant in O’Neill, was initially indicted in 2018 on federal charges in connection to his employment of two undocumented immigrant workers through a staffing agency. A trial against Good in November, during which Domina Law invoked the Religious Freedom Restoration Act to argue Good was acting in accordance to his Christian faith and as a Good Samaritan, resulted in a mistrial.
Evidence that came to light during Good’s trial in November, and the defense presented by Attorney Dave Domina, resulted in the Prosecutor changing her mind. As she told the Court:
“I came to conclude that he was acting truly from humanitarian motives."
The presiding Judge, who commented that prosecutors are encouraged to change their minds when “the evidence points another way,” also expressed that Good “had no knowledge and zero to do with [the] particular scheme.” Citing that at age 75, Good had no criminal history, and was a veteran and respected business owner, he imposed a fine of $500.
Read more about the case and Domina Law's defense of John Good here.