Meri Goyette doesn’t dwell on the night of March 23, 1991, when Eduardo Lopez Jr. shot her son Robert Goyette to death in a failed robbery attempt on West Pearl Street in Nashua.
Her son, a husband and father himself at the time, was just 31 when Lopez went on a murderous rampage. Lopez was 17.
Goyette said she will not be attending Lopez’ court hearing on Oct. 13 seeking a new trial at Hillsborough County Superior Court in Nashua, but she does often think of him in prison. There is no malice in her heart for Lopez.
“I’ve forgiven him,” Goyette said.
Even some family members ask her why, she said. “I don’t know. I can’t explain it.”
“It should never have happened,” Goyette said.
Lopez is seeking a new trial arguing that evidence of a police detective’s untruthfulness long ago that could have been favorable to him was withheld before his trial. (see related story)
She is almost 90 now and lives in Nashua with her husband, retired city doctor Charles Goyette.
Goyette is well-known for her civic work in Nashua and for being active with the arts community. In two weeks, she will accept the Governor’s Individual Arts Patron Award.
She believes in fate.
“I accept whatever happens,” Goyette said. “I feel Robbie’s in a safe place.”
She wonders about Lopez, what his life would have been like if he hadn’t gone to prison. It took more than two years for him to be sentenced as an adult because he was arrested as a juvenile.
Had Lopez been sentenced as a juvenile, he would have been released from a juvenile detention facility at age 19. But prosecutors were successful in having him certified to stand trial as an adult.
Lopez is also awaiting a decision by the U.S. Supreme Court to see if he will be resentenced because he was a juvenile when he killed Robert Goyette. The court had ruled that sentencing juveniles to life without parole was cruel and unusual punishment.
“I can’t help but think of him and what if he had just stayed home that awful night,” Goyette said.
“I pray for him,” Goyette said. “I guess it is just the way I was brought up.”