A Pennsylvania attorney with a registered address in Palmyra has given up his license to practice law as the result of child sexual assault convictions in Virginia and pending child sex charges in Berks County.
On July 30, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court ordered that Shawn Cory Gooden, 50, be “disbarred on consent,” and forbidden from practicing law anywhere in the commonwealth.
Records of the Pennsylvania Disciplinary Board, an arm of the Supreme Court, show that Gooden lists an office address at 16 Blackberry Lane, Palmyra. However, he is currently an inmate in the Virginia prison system. Records there show he is not eligible for release before November 2027.
Several local attorneys contacted by LebTown said they did not know Gooden and were not aware of his ever practicing law in Lebanon County.
Court records show that in 2023 Gooden pleaded guilty in Virginia to 13 counts of aggravated sexual battery, sodomy, and indecent liberties with a child, all involving victims under 14 years old. Those offenses occurred in 1997.
Gooden was sentenced in Virginia to consecutive 20-year prison sentences, but records show that large portions of those sentences were suspended, resulting in his eligibility for parole in 2027.
Gooden faces 18 additional child sex charges in Berks County, which appear to be on hold while he is a Virginia inmate. Those charges include multiple counts of rape, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, and aggravated indecent assault, all involving victims less than 13 years old. Efforts to reach Gooden’s attorney, Jay Nigrini, were unsuccessful as of publication time.
In September 2022, ABC27 TV reported that Gooden had been employed by Harrisburg law firm Thomas, Thomas & Hafer, and that he had been associated with the Boy Scouts of America New Birth of Freedom Council, based in south-central Pennsylvania, and the Harrisburg stake of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.
Gooden’s LinkedIn page, which does not appear to be current, says he was at Thomas, Thomas & Hafer between August 2021 and September 2022. It also says that he became a part-time adjunct professor at Widener Law School in 2020, and that he was the managing partner at the Harrisburg law firm Weber Gallagher from 2004 until 2021.
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