Life sentence is upheld in plot to kidnap the father of a former Wake prosecutor
A federal court this week upheld the life sentence of a 32-year-old gang member for her role in a 2014 scheme to abduct Frank Janssen, the father of former Wake County Assistant District Attorney Colleen Janssen.
Shameika Goodall, also known as “Donna Diva,” had appealed a sentence of life in federal prison following her 2017 conviction for kidnapping and conspiracy to commit kidnapping.
Goodall, in an appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, argued that the district court had erred when it admitted at trial evidence of other bad acts that led to her sentence of life behind bars.
The court this week rejected Goodall’s claims and affirmed her life sentence, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Raleigh announced Wednesday.
Frank Janssen was kidnapped from his home in Wake Forest after Goodall talked by phone with Kelvin Melton, the mastermind of the scheme.
Melton, a leader in the United Bloods Nation gang who was in a North Carolina prison after Colleen Janssen prosecuted his case, called Goodall’s home in Covington, Ga., on April 5, 2014, and discussed the mission with Goodall and others, according to prosecutors with the Raleigh U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Melton blamed his conviction and life sentence for a 2011 gang-related shooting in Raleigh on Colleen Janssen and his attorneys. His goal was to use the attorneys’ family members to extort a dismissal of his life sentence, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office news release.
Investigators said that in March and April of 2014, Melton ordered three teams of kidnappers to steal away family members of Wake prosecutors and his defense counsel.
One of the kidnapping teams violently abducted Frank Janssen from his Wake Forest home on April 5, 2014. The team took Janssen to an apartment in Atlanta, where he remained bound to a chair in a small room until April 9, when he was rescued by the FBI.
Investigators reported that hours before Janssen was rescued, Melton had called and instructed the kidnappers to find a location to dig a hole, then to kill Janssen and bury him. Prosecutors said Goodall recruited one of the kidnappers.
Moreover, Goodall provided the kidnapping team assembled by Melton a place to receive their instructions through a conference call, and she provided money for the kidnappers to use during their trip.
The Fourth Circuit, in upholding Goodall’s life sentence, stated that her punishment was “not unusually disproportionate.” The court also noted that Goodall “elected to go to trial and maintains her innocence,” unlike some of her co-conspirators “who assisted the FBI in rescuing the victim, decided to plead guilty, cooperated in the investigation and testified against Melton and Goodall at their trials.”
“This crime was monstrously cruel to the victim and his family and a clear attack on our criminal justice system,” assistant federal attorney G. Norman Acker III, stated in Wednesday’s news release. “Those who strike at the peace and security of our community will be held accountable. The affirmation of Goodall’s sentence and conviction reflects this reality.”
This story was originally published July 18, 2018 at 7:08 PM.