October 12, 2026
Port Huron Woman Guilty of First-Degree Murder in Boyfriend's Shooting Death
Courtroom photos of Jennifer Goodall's trial, St. Clair County (via trial-coverage image pool, s.hdnux.com)
The verdict
PORT HURON, Mich. — A St. Clair County jury found Jennifer Goodall, 41, guilty of first-degree murder on Monday, Oct. 12, 2026, in the shooting death of her 23-year-old boyfriend Chase Hoyt at their Port Huron home on Sept. 3, 2025.
The jury, which began deliberating Friday afternoon and resumed Monday morning, announced its unanimous decision around 1 p.m. Goodall was also found guilty of felony firearm use and possession of an unregistered firearm.
Goodall is scheduled to be sentenced at 1:35 p.m. on Nov. 16 and faces up to life in prison.
Self-defense, undone
The verdict capped a week-long trial in which Goodall's own testimony — she did not deny shooting Hoyt — was the centerpiece of a self-defense claim. Goodall told jurors that Hoyt had been holding her rifle upstairs, pointing it out the window; that they struggled over the weapon; and that Hoyt choked her and chased her around the house until she retrieved a handgun and shot him.
That story took a direct hit from St. Clair County Senior Assistant Prosecutor Megan Leyva Kelley, who confronted Goodall on the stand with still images from a responding officer's body camera. The footage showed the rifle Hoyt had supposedly held — not in the bedroom, but in a closet, still in its case.
Goodall initially said she had no explanation for why the rifle wasn't where she claimed, then said she had put it back in its case during the confrontation.
Her daughter's recordings
The prosecution's heaviest evidence came from multiple recordings made by Goodall's daughter, Kearra, in the months before the shooting. Jurors heard Goodall threatening Hoyt, discussing prior incidents where she hit him, and — critically — admitting to her daughter that Hoyt had not physically abused her, but she had hit him.
Prosecutors also argued the killing was the product of a year of building jealousy, telling jurors Goodall became enraged whenever Hoyt spoke to or paid attention to another woman.
What came before
Goodall has been in jail since her arrest on Sept. 3, 2025, when she herself called 911 to report she had shot Hoyt during a domestic dispute at their 10th Avenue home. Officers found Hoyt on the floor of the living room; he was taken to a hospital but died just after midnight. The weapon was later recovered from a drawer in her son's room.
Her trial was delayed earlier in the year pending a bloodstain-pattern analysis, and she switched attorneys in the spring after citing a breakdown in the attorney-client relationship.
What's next
Sentencing is set for Nov. 16. Goodall faces up to life in prison on the first-degree murder conviction.
This is a developing story. The Night Desk will update as details land.
Source: Port Huron Times Herald — read the original report
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