‘Sarah’s Law’ seeks to restore Medford murder conviction erased after killer’s suicide

Lawmakers say an outdated New York legal doctrine erased justice for Medford murder victim Sarah Goode, reopening wounds for her family.

Twelve years after Sarah Goode was raped, stabbed more than 40 times and left in the woods of Medford, her family found itself back at a podium in Hauppauge — fighting the law that wiped her killer’s conviction off the books.

Tearful, forceful and unwavering, Goode’s sisters stood alongside state lawmakers Friday to demand passage of what is now known as Sarah’s Law, legislation aimed at closing what they call one of New York’s most devastating legal loopholes for crime victims.

The proposal, sponsored by state Sen. Dean Murray and Assemblyman Joe DeStefano, would end the application of an antiquated doctrine known as abatement ab initio — a rule that automatically vacates a criminal conviction if a defendant dies before an appeal is decided.

In Sarah Goode’s case, that doctrine erased the 2016 murder and rape conviction of Medford resident Dante Taylor after he took his own life in prison in 2017 while his appeal was pending.

“For the first time since Sarah was taken from us, our family had a small measure of peace,” her sister Jennifer Driver told the crowd gathered at the Perry Duryea State Office Building. “A conviction. A sentence. A permanent record that said this happened and this mattered. And then it was all erased — as if Sarah’s life never mattered.”

Goode was 21 years old and a single mother when she disappeared on June 7, 2014. Five days later, the Medford woman’s body was found in a wooded area, adjacent to the Eagle Estates neighborhood in Medford and near her home.

Prosecutors said she had been raped, beaten and also stabbed more than 40 times. In 2016, a Suffolk County jury found Taylor, a former U.S. Marine who was 19 at the time of the murder, guilty of first- and second-degree murder and rape. He was sentenced to life in prison without parole.

That verdict, however, no longer legally exists.

Taylor died in October 2017 while his appeal was pending. Under New York law, his conviction was automatically vacated months later.

Today, there is no one legally convicted of Goode’s murder.

“That’s what this law is about fixing,” Murray said. “A jury heard the evidence. A verdict was rendered. Guilt was established beyond a reasonable doubt. That shouldn’t vanish because a convicted murderer dies before an appeal is heard.”

Sarah’s Law would ensure that when a defendant dies after being convicted and sentenced, the conviction remains on the record and only the appeal is dismissed. Importantly for the Goode family, the bill also includes language allowing district attorneys to seek retroactive reinstatement of convictions already erased — including Taylor’s.

“This isn’t hypothetical. This happened,” DeStefano said. “And it caused real harm to a family that had already endured unimaginable loss. Justice should not disappear quietly because of a technicality.”

The press conference drew a large showing of elected officials and law enforcement leaders, including Suffolk County Executive Ed Romaine, Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, assistant district attorneys, victim advocates and multiple state legislators.

Romaine called the issue “very simple.”

“Someone was responsible for murdering Sarah, and that person was convicted by a jury,” he said. “That conviction should stand — even after death. This is justice for victims and their families.”

Blakeman echoed that sentiment, calling the Goode case “one of the most heinous crimes in the history of Long Island” and blasting laws he said protect criminals over victims.

“What people don’t realize,” Blakeman said, “is that this family sat through a trial, endured the publicity, fought for justice — only to have it stolen away by a ridiculous law.”

Standing just feet away from the speakers and holding a placard with a photo of her mom smiling was Jocelyn, Sarah Goode’s daughter — 4 years old when her mother was killed. Now almost 16, she is being raised by her family and, relatives said, has her eyes set on a future career in fashion.

That theme — erasure — was repeated again and again by Goode’s sisters.

“This doctrine didn’t just erase a conviction,” Driver said. “It erased accountability. It erased justice. It erased Sarah.”

Goode’s older sister Tabitha Miller said the state’s actions amounted to re-victimizing the family.

“What New York did was throw my sister back into the woods all over again,” she said. “It told us that a convicted murderer deserved a clean slate more than Sarah deserved permanent justice.”

Elizabeth DeMuria, another sister, posed a direct challenge to lawmakers.

“If this bill doesn’t pass, who is going to look my mom and Sarah’s daughter in the eye and tell them her life wasn’t worth fighting for?” she asked. “This is not a political issue. It’s a human one.”

Murray said the idea for the bill came directly from conversations with crime victims’ families during statewide roundtables.

“Jennifer and Tabitha brought this to us,” he said. “They told us what this doctrine did to them. And once you hear it, you can’t unhear it.”

If passed, Sarah’s Law would bring New York in line with many other states that have abandoned or limited abatement ab initio, including Massachusetts, which reinstated the murder conviction of former NFL player Aaron Hernandez after initially vacating it under the same doctrine.

For the Goode family, the fight is about more than legal language.

“We began this fight the day Sarah was taken from us,” Driver said. “We will not stop until justice is restored. Sarah’s life mattered. It still matters. And it always will.”

_{Top: Sarah Goode’s sisters stand with state and county officials in Hauppauge urging passage of Sarah’s Law (Video still via Facebook/Sen. Dean Murray)}