man given 75-year sentence By Bruce Hertz Somerset Bureau AUGUSTA - Gerald Goodale, 30, of Waterville, the self-admitted killer of Geraldine Finn of Skowhegan, was sentenced Friday to 75 years in prison, a sentence called "significant" by a probation spokesman. In sentencing Goodale, Justice Donald Alexander said it was his responsibility to protect society from "this man ... who showed a complete lack of remorse.' Alexander said that while the circumstances of the crime did not warrant a life senterice, the 75-year sentence would keep Goodale incarcerated for the rest of his "productive, natural life.' Terry Michaud of the Probation Department, who supervised the • pre-sentence investigation, said Goodale would have to serve at least 30 years before any "good time" could be earned toward release. Alexander said he was not persuaded by Goodale's attorney that Finn was killed as the result of an accident. He agreed with the prosecution's conclusion that Goodale "stalked" Finn as a victim and intended to attack her sexually. The death occurred, he said, when the sexual attack "went bad." Such stalking and premeditation made Goodale a "very dangerous" person, Alexander said. Goodale spoke for himself for the first time in the case, which was heard during the first week of May. His attorney, James Mitchell, called no witnesses for Goodale's defense. Goodale's voice shook and he cried, as he said, "I am truly sorry. This was no murder. It was an accident. I can't ask forgiveness because I can't forgive myself. I have not been able to sleep without tranquilizers. There is nothing I can do to replace her." William and 1 Sarah Finns and their daughter, Marie, told the court that Goodale should receive nothing less than a life sentence. Mrs. Finn, Geraldine Finn's mother, said that when Goodale murdered Geraldine, "he murdered all of us." Geraldine Finn's body was discovered in a watery gully off Route 201 in Skowhegan Aug. 4, 1988, nine days after she was seen leaving a night spot in Waterville with . Gerald Goodale. Goodale was arrested two days later and had been in jail ever since. Finn, a certified nurses aide at a Skowhegan nursing home, was 23. At the jury -waived trial in May, Goodale admitted to killing Finn, but asked to have the charge reduced to manslaughter. Alexander denied that motion and he denied motions Friday for a new trial and the introduction of new evidence. Charles Robinson, an Augusta psychologist, and Dr. George Curtis of Boston, Mass., a forensic pathologist, testified Friday that there was no evidence that Goodale sexually attacked Finn. The state of Finn's clothes was consistent with a body being dragged, not assaulted, Curtis said. Fernand LaRochelle, chief of the criminal division at the Attorney General's Office, said Goodale had information about another serious crime and refused to cooperate with the police. After Goodale was sentenced, LaRochelle said the case he alluded to was the murder of Janet Brochu, a Waterville woman who was last seen in Goodale's presence on the night she disappeared Dec. 23, 1987. Her body was found floating in the Sebasticook River in Pittsfield three months later. According to the pre-sentence investigation, Goodale said he knew who killed Brochu, but he wouldn't say who it was. LaRochelle said the fact that Goodale was not arrested for the Brochu murder was indicative that the case was still open and under investigation. Mitchell said Goodale intended to appeal the case and the sentence.
