When deciding on an appropriate sentence for defendant Michelina Goodwin — convicted earlier this year of the December 2022 murder of James Volodimir Nalborczyk — Circuit Court Judge Terrence J. McGann said Monday it was the manner with which the defendant went about trying to cover up the crime that influenced his decision.
“The length that Ms. Goodwin went was shocking and appalling,” McCann said, characterizing the defendant’s actions as “diabolical.”
Goodwin, 46, who had almost no criminal past prior to shooting her boyfriend Nalborczyk in the back during an argument on Dec. 11, 2022, at their Great Mills home, received a sentence of 61 years in a state prison during Monday’s sentencing hearing in Leonardtown.
During an eight-day trial in March, Goodwin was found guilty of murder, firearm use in a violent crime and burying and disposing of a body in an unauthorized place.
Nalborczyk was reported missing by his family members several days after he was shot.
“He told me he loved her,” Jasmin Claggett, Nalborczyk’s daughter, said during the hearing. “And I thought everything was OK. She lied to my family over and over.”
“He was like a dad to me,” Candee Ellis, Nalborczyk’s sister, told the court. “He was the kindest nicest person. Why did you do that to him? The pain is always going to be there with us.”
Maryland State Police found Nalborczyk’s remains in areas of St. Mary’s and Charles counties in January 2023.
McCann had praise for the law enforcement personnel who conducted the difficult investigation.
“They were persistent, methodical,” the judge said, adding, “without that, this case may have gone unsolved.”
McCann stated that something Claggett, who lives in Nanjemoy, said about driving by the area where parts of her father’s dismembered body were found and reliving the horror of learning the details of her father’s murder.
“They left him there,” Claggett said. “This has been extremely painful for me.”
“These are things that will haunt her forever,” McCann said.
“This was not a pre-meditated, deliberate murder,” Amber Lynn Wetzel, Goodwin’s attorney, told the court. “This was not some random act of violence.”
Wetzel said her client’s sentence should be focused on rehabilitation. She noted while incarcerated, Goodwin intervened in the assault of a correctional officer by another detention center inmate.
“She risked her own personal safety to try to help a correctional officer,” Wetzel said.
The defense attorney said Nalborczyk and Goodwin’s relationship had begun crumbling.
“Nobody knew their real ins and outs of that relationship,” Wetzel said.
Prosecuting attorney Donna C. Pettersen said Goodwin has shown no regret for killing Nalborczyk and, due to the violent nature of the crime, is a danger to the community.
“There is a lack of remorse and the state is safer with her incarcerated,” Pettersen said. “Her actions were heinous and violent. Nobody deserves to die and have their body dismembered.”
While Goodwin had wanted to address the court prior to being sentenced, she heeded her attorney’s advice and declined.
McCann said the defendant would be given credit for the over 550 days she has served.
Larry Joseph Murhy, 41, of Great Mills, who allegedly helped Goodwin dispose of Nalborczyk’s body, pleaded guilty in 2023 to burying/disposing of a body in an unauthorized place. He was sentenced to one year in jail.
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