BY MIKE FUHRMAN

For three decades, Peggy Goodman-Riley has been fighting with every fiber of her being to keep the man who murdered her daughter behind bars.

Kim Goodman was a 20-year-old with her whole life ahead of her when Brett Abrams, a 14-year-old neighbor, brutally stabbed her to death while she was sunbathing behind her home in the Brookview community in Mooresville on July 11, 1983. A popular student during her days at South Iredell High School, she was engaged to be married and hoped to be a dance teacher after finishing college.

Prosecuted as an adult because of the heinous nature of the murder, Abrams pleaded guilty to second-degree murder on May 22, 1984, and was sentenced to life in prison.

Now 55, Abrams has been in the custody of the N.C. Department of Corrections for almost 40 years. He’s been considered for parole numerous times since 1994.

Every time that Abrams has been eligible for parole Goodman-Riley and her son Greg Goodman have written letters, made phone calls and rallied residents in Mooresville and the surrounding area to voice their objection. Two petition drives in the past demanding that Abrams remain incarcerated have garnered a total of 100,000 signatures.

The N.C. Parole Commission has heard these cries for justice and has consistently denied Abrams’ applications for parole.

Kim Goodman’s family members have been steadfast in their efforts because of the enormity of their loss and their desire to protect other families from losing a loved one.

And the passage of 40 years has not weakened their resolve.

“We feel he’ll kill again,” Goodman-Riley said. “This is difficult for all of us.”

“We saw how he treated other people, how he treated animals,” Greg explained. “People were terrified of him by the time he was a teenager. He was just a bad seed.

“And 40 years later, many people still have a real, rational fear of him because of the things he did, how he made them feel,” he added.

Renewed Effort

This time feels different, Goodman-Riley said. It feels like the system is working against the family and for the man who killed her daughter.

Abrams’ latest parole application has been pending since May of 2022 and there is no timeline for a decision; there are new members on the Parole Commission to convince; Abrams has filed a federal lawsuit arguing his continuing incarceration is unjust; and the N.C. Juvenile Sentence Review Board is also considering Abrams’ request for executive clemency.

Abrams, who is serving his sentence at Orange Correctional Center in Hillsborough, has been allowed to leave the minimum-security prison on unsupervised work release for the past 15 years. According to Department of Corrections records, he has not had an infraction since November of 2005.

In 2020, Abrams filed a lawsuit against the N.C. Parole Commission, claiming that his constitutional rights had been violated by the commission and arguing the repeated denial of his applications for parole was “punitive.”

The Southern Coalition for Social Justice, a Durham-based nonprofit dedicated to defending and advancing political, social and economic rights of communities of color and economically disadvantaged communities, took up Abrams’ cause in August.

Abrams’ lawsuit challenges the N.C. Parole Commission’s process on the grounds that it has not provided a “meaningful opportunity” for Abrams to receive parole as required under the Eighth Amendment.

“The N.C. Parole Commission is required to provide a meaningful opportunity for people like Brett Abrams, who was 14 years old when he was sent to prison, to demonstrate maturity and rehabilitation, and be seriously considered for parole,” Jake Sussman, an attorney for SCSJ, said in a news release this summer. “That has not happened for Mr. Abrams and others in his situation. We hope this lawsuit will expose this constitutional violation and help fix North Carolina’s broken parole system.”

While the federal lawsuit is pending, Abrams also has asked the N.C. Juvenile Sentence Review Board to examine his case and recommend him for executive clemency.

Gov. Roy Cooper created the review board on April 9, 2021, to aid in commutation and clemency decisions in cases involving individuals who committed crimes as juveniles and have served at least 15 years in prison.

In determining whether to recommend commutation or clemency to the governor, the review board must consider numerous factors, including factors suggesting developmental immaturity in the commission of the crime; the petitioner’s mental health at the time of the crime; input from the victim or members of the victim’s immediate family; the degree of risk the petitioner poses society; and rehabilitation and maturity demonstrated by the petitioner.

Goodman-Riley, close friends and family members believe Abrams should be barred from parole and clemency. He remains a danger to others. They are again asking community members to write letters to the Parole Commission and the Governor’s Clemency Office, explaining why Abrams should not be released.

“Why would we even want to consider releasing him?” asked Hope Goodman, Greg’s wife. “We consider him to be the worst of the worst.”

Share Your Opinion

You can contact the N.C. Parole Commission to share your opinion on this matter:

N.C Parole Commission
2020 Yonkers Road
4222 Mail Service Center
Raleigh, NC 27699-4222
919-716-3010
E-mail: Parole.Commission@dac.nc.gov 

Governor’s Clemency Office
4294 Mail Service Center
Raleigh, NC 27699-4294
Phone: 919-324-1456
Email: clemency@nc.gov

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