Drunk driver who ran red light found guilty of Pembroke crash that killed 13-year-old girl
PLYMOUTH - A jury has convicted a Marshfield man who killed a 13-year-old girl while driving high and drunk of second-degree murder.
The jury deliberated for 10 hours before finding Gregory Goodsell, 36, of Marshfield, guilty of motor vehicle manslaughter while operating under the influence, leaving the scene of property damage and two counts of operating under the influence and causing serious bodily injury. He will be sentenced on October 3.
The two-car crash on Route 139 in Pembroke on December 29, 2019, killed 13-year-old Claire Zisserson and seriously injured her mother Elizabeth Zisserson, who was driving the car, and passenger 13-year-old Kendall Zemotel.
Investigators said Goodsell attended a company party and then went on to a house party in Pembroke, which he left at about 6:40 a.m. He drove his Hi-Way Safety Systems, Inc. company truck - a Ford F-250 - from the party, hitting a tree before speeding through a red light at 67 mph and broadsiding a white Subaru driven by Elizabeth Zisserson. Claire and Kendall were in the back seat.
At the time of the crash, Goodsell had a blood alcohol content of .266 and had cocaine in his system. He also had a half-empty bottle of whiskey, an empty beer can, two nip bottles, marijuana and a pipe in his truck.
Kendall Zemotel later sued Goodsell and Hi-Way Safety Systems.
Friends remembered Claire Zisserson as a "fun-loving person," who loved laughing with friends. She was an eighth-grader at Rising Tide Charter Public School in Plymouth.