'Borderline psychopath' joins brother on long-term offender list

Last Updated: Wednesday, July 19, 2006 | 2:27 PM ET

CBC News

A Saskatchewan alcoholic with a string of more than 30 criminal convictions has become the second person in his family to be designated a long-term offender this year.

The long-term offender designation is used for people convicted of a serious personal injury offence who are likely to re-offend. They are given special attention in jail and are supervised for up to 10 years after their release.

Maxwell Adrian Goforth, 32, of Regina, was sentenced to seven years in prison for aggravated assault after stabbing a man in the back and leaving him for dead. His previous convictions included:

• Breaking a woman's arms when she refused to drive him home.
• Fracturing several bones in a woman's face when she called him a punk.
• Jumping on a man's face while wearing cowboy boots.

His brother, Edgar Richard Goforth, was declared a long-term offender in April and given 3½ years in prison and 10 years of supervision for assaulting a Regina woman with a wine bottle. He is appealing his designation.

Edgar has run up more than 100 convictions for offences that included:

• Beating his wife with a metal coat hanger.
• Firing a rifle into a truck full of people.
• Nearly killing a man in a jailhouse fight.
• Beating his wife inside a correctional centre because she was late for a visit.

Serious alcoholics

Both men have been described as serious alcoholics with anti-social personality disorders and violent tendencies, the Regina Leader-Post reported.

Judge Guy Chicoine of the Saskatchewan Court of Queen's Bench told a sentencing hearing that Maxwell committed "a vicious, callous and unwarranted attack" in 2004, which could easily have turned fatal."

"But for the fact that [the victim] received prompt medical attention … Mr. [Maxwell] Goforth would probably have faced an even more serious charge," the judge said.

Borderline psychopath

A psychologist testified that Maxwell Goforth is a borderline psychopath of at least average intelligence, who can be street-smart and amiable.

However, the psychologist said, Maxwell doesn't express remorse for his victims and doesn't understand the severity of his alcoholism.

The judge warned Maxwell that he could be designated a dangerous offender if he doesn't reform his ways. The dangerous-offender designation would result in an indeterminate jail term.

"Should he fail to get his alcohol problem under control and resolve as of today that he has consumed his last drink … he will probably not be so fortunate to escape a dangerous-offender designation next time he appears in court," Chicoine said.

Most long-term offenders are sexual offenders, but some have been convicted of common and aggravated assault, arson and even impaired driving causing bodily harm.