Jefferson County mom after murder sentence: "10 years is not long enough for the life of my son"

News 12 NBC 26 News At 11 | Monday, Feb. 27, 2017

LOUISVILLE, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) -- Two people will spend ten years behind bars for giving a Jefferson County Navy Sailor enough meth to kill him.

A judge ruled 21-year-old William Knight and 40-year-old Betty Jones will spend ten years in jail in connection with the 2015 death of 22-year-old Matthew Good. Knight took a plea deal while a jury convicted Jones.

Jones, Knight and 22-year-old Sara Jones were all allegedly involved with Good's death after they purposely gave him a large dose of meth, causing him to have hallucinations and unusual behavior. The group left him after he hopped out of the car they were all in and ran into the woods.

His body was found June 15, 2015 in the woods off US Highway 1 in Emanuel County. While his mother is happy to see justice, she says the sentence is not enough.

It's been nearly two years since the death of Edith Good's son, Matthew.

"Yeah, it's difficult because we miss him so much," Good says. "He's so missed."

She says things have recently gotten easier this past week after a judge ordered two of the three people involved in his death to spend ten years behind bars. While she says she's happy justice has been served, she says it's still not enough.

"10 years is not long enough for the life of my son," Good says. "He didn't have to die. Had the people involved knew of Matthew's trouble, had they helped him, he more than likely would have survived."

Now she's working to spread the word of Georgia's 911 Medical Amnesty Law, a bill passed in 2014.

According to House Bill 965, "the law provides limited immunity from arrest, charge and prosecution for possession of certain drugs and drug paraphernalia for individuals who experience a drug overdose and are in need of medical care, and for those who seek medical care in good faith for a person experiencing an overdose."

While the law only provides limited immunity, Good says it's important for people to know if they're ever in the same situation her son was in two years ago. She says had the people Matthew was with that night known about the law, he might still be here.

"Friends don't have to let friends die and when somebody is in distress," Good says. "The law is protecting. They want them to be able to go get the help and that's what's important."

While she does not condone using drugs, she says this law could help save another life and spare the pain another family might suffer.

"If they've committed a crime and they've done something, they don't have to leave somebody to die and they don't have to dump them in the woods or on front lawns," Good says. "That's the message we want to get across."

The law provides immunity for drug and drug paraphernalia possession charges only and does not provide any protection for those possessing with the intent to sell and distribute.

As for the amount of possession, the law "provides protection from arrest, charge or prosecution for possession of less than four grams of a solid controlled substance, less than one milliliter of a liquid substance, or a substance “placed into a secondary medium” with a combined weight of less than four grams. For marijuana, protection is provided for possession of less than one ounce."

Good is also trying to introduce a new bill into the Georgia legislation that would make it felony murder if someone provides drugs that kill someone. She says there's not much traction right now, but she's still talking to lawmakers.