Gregory Goodsell found guilty – NBC Boston

The driver accused of killing a 13-year-old girl and seriously injuring her mother and a classmate in Pembroke, Massachusetts, in late December 2019 was found guilty at trial on Tuesday, prosecutors said.

Gregory Goodsell was found guilty on all counts in the crash that killed Claire Zisserson, who was just shy of her 14th birthday, according to the Plymouth County District Attorney's Office. Sentencing is scheduled for Thursday, Oct. 3.

Goodsell was charged with DUI manslaughter after he allegedly admitted to police that he had been drinking and taking cocaine at a Christmas party hosted by his boss. Elizabeth Zisserson, Claire's mother, and her friend Kendall Zemotel, who was also 13 at the time, were hospitalized after the December 29 crash.

Prosecutors called the injuries to Elizabeth Zisserson, who was driving the Subaru, and Kendall Zemotel, who was in the back seat with Claire, catastrophic. All three occupants of the Subaru were taken to South Shore Hospital, and the two teenagers were taken to Boston Children's Hospital.

After ten hours of deliberation, the jury found Goodsell, now 36, guilty of premeditated murder, negligent homicide (under the influence of alcohol), hit-and-run, property damage, and driving under the influence of alcohol causing serious bodily harm.

Goodsell was driving a pickup truck that collided with Elizabeth Zisserson's Subaru on Route 139 at the corner of Church and Oak streets around 6:50 a.m., officials said. He had a blood-alcohol content of .266, well over the legal limit, and had run a red light at 67 mph before colliding with the Subaru.

Investigators found whiskey, a beer can, nipple bottles and marijuana in Goodsell's truck.

The Zissersons were from Plymouth, where a vigil was held on Claire's 14th birthday a week after the crash.

Friends, family and complete strangers gathered in Plymouth on Sunday to remember Claire Zisserson, a 13-year-old girl who was killed last weekend by a suspected drunk driver.

The accident drew increased attention to Hi-Way Safety Systems, a highway construction company that fired Goodsell after the accident and that also owned the pickup truck he was driving.

Goodsell reportedly admitted to police that he was severely impaired. Prosecutors said he told officers at the scene of the accident: “I know I shouldn't have been driving. I can't believe I did that. I drank way too much. I'm so sorry.”

Goodsell smelled of alcohol and also admitted to taking cocaine at the company's Christmas party he was coming from, prosecutors said in court. They added that witnesses said he was speeding before the crash. One of them said he passed them in a no-passing zone at about 90 mph, “the speed of lightning.”

The family of a 13-year-old girl who was seriously injured when a suspected drunk driver crashed into her car in Pembroke, Massachusetts on Sunday, says the girl is still fighting for her life.

Hi-Way Safety Systems said Goodsell was fired for both the accident and repeated violations of company policy: “Unauthorized use of a company vehicle for personal purposes outside of work hours on the evening of December 28th and possession of alcohol in the vehicle.”

Prosecutors said Goodsell has a long history of 35 traffic accidents, including a previous accident that resulted in reckless conduct, resisting authority and disorderly conduct.

At the vigil at Brewster Gardens in Plymouth, friends and family remembered Claire Zisserson, who attended Rising Tide Charter Public School.

Elizabeth Zisseron described her daughter in a statement to NBC10 Boston as a “smart, kind and caring girl with a beautiful heart… She loved her family, her friends and her teammates. She was a ray of sunshine.”