Transient gets 26-year prison sentence in fatal stabbing

A convicted felon who fatally stabbed a 28-yearold woman after the victim confronted her and other transients loitering outside her apartment was sentenced Friday to 26 years to life in state prison.

A Banning jury in January convicted Autumn Brooke Goodwin, 27, of Hemet of first-degree murder for the slaying of Shawna Jean Rhoades. Jurors additionally found Goodwin guilty of a sentence-enhancing allegation of using a knife in the commission of a felony.

During a hearing at the Banning Justice Center on Friday, Riverside County Superior Court Mark Singerton imposed the sentence required by law.

According to a trial brief filed by the District Attorney’s Office, not long after midnight on Sept. 18, Goodwin and about a half-dozen other “transient drug users” congregated in the immediate vicinity of an apartment building in Hemet at 1025 S. Gilbert St., where Rhoades and her husband resided.

The couple became incensed by the activity near their unit and went outside to demand that the transients leave, culminating in a confrontation between Rhoades and Goodwin, prosecutors said.

“A physical altercation ensued in the middle of the street,” the brief said. “During the altercation, Shawna was stabbed multiple times in her upper torso and she ran back near her apartment, where she collapsed from her injuries.”

Goodwin and the others fled the scene.

Hemet police officers arrived within minutes and found Rhoades gravely wounded from six stab wounds. She was taken to Hemet Global Medical Center, where she died an hour later.

Detectives soon identified several of the transients who had gathered in front of the apartment building that morning and questioned them, leading to Goodwin’s identification as the assailant, according to the brief.

The investigation resulted in a search warrant being served on Sept. 22 at a residence at 620 Vista Del Monte, where the defendant was holed up, after telling the resident, whose identity wasn’t disclosed, she was “laying low because the police were looking for her,” court papers said.

“Autumn told (the resident) that she stabbed

Shawna during the altercation … (and admitted) she used her friend’s knife to stab her,” according to the brief.

The defendant was taken into custody without incident.

On Sept. 27, the witness discovered a disassembled knife in a paint can and turned it over to police. The weapon was later confirmed to be the one used in the fatal attack.

Goodwin had a prior conviction for assault with a deadly weapon.