Woman Who Killed, Cut Off Penis of "Abusive" Stepfather Gets Max

By Roy Edroso Fri., Nov. 6 2009 at 12:40 PM

Categories: Crime, Crime and Punishment, Featured, Legal

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A woman who choked her stepfather to death and cut off his penis after what she claimed were years of sexual abuse got the maximum sentence for second-degree manslaughter this morning -- 5 to 15 years -- though jury members had petitioned the judge to be lenient in sentencing her. She had been acquitted by jurors of second-degree murder and first-degree manslaughter charges.

Brigitte Harris, now 29, called her stepfather, Eric Goodridge, to her apartment in Queens in July of 2007, handcuffed him to a chair, asphyxiated him by sticking a cloth in his mouth, and, when he was dead, removed his member with a surgical scalpel. In order to prevent reattachment, apparently, she later cooked the penis. She then went to an emergency and recounted her story, whereupon she was arrested. While in Rikers, she took a cooking class.

Harris, who portrayed herself on a web site as "Lady Vengeance" and "the Original Dark Angel," said Goodridge has begun abusing her when she was three years old, and feared for her nieces, whom she learned Goodridge was planning to take to Africa. Her half-sister Carleen Goodridge has admitted that Goodridge abused her as well.

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