BRENTWOOD, N.H. (AP) – Court officials say a piano teacher awaiting a jury’s verdict on charges he sexually assaulted an underage student has shot himself outside a New Hampshire courthouse.
Authorities say 75-year-old John Goodwin, of Atkinson, went on trial this week on six counts of aggravated felonious sexual assault.
Court officials say the jury was deliberating when Goodwin shot himself late Friday morning near his car in a parking lot outside Rockingham County Superior Courthouse. He wasn’t in custody.
Jurors were still deliberating Friday afternoon.
WMUR-TV reports the former student testified he didn’t come forward until 2013 because he was embarrassed. The station reports Goodwin’s lawyer acknowledged his client was “touchy-feely,” but he didn’t commit a crime.
Court officials say Goodwin was airlifted to a hospital.