Jury clears wife of plotting her husband's death

A McHenry County jury deliberated about four hours Friday before clearing a former Lake in the Hills woman of allegations in a civil lawsuit that she conspired to have her father murder her husband.

The jury awarded $1.8 million to the family of murder victim Philip Goldstein from Adriaan Vlot, the man serving life in prison for his murder, but rejected claims Vlot's daughter, Joann Goldstein, encouraged or assisted in the 2003 slaying.

"Justice was done," Peter Carroll, the attorney for Joann Goldstein said late Friday. "This case wasn't about money, this case was about a vendetta between the Vlot and Goldstein families."

The lawsuit stemmed from the Nov. 5, 2003 murder of Philip Goldstein, 43, by his 78-year-old father-in-law outside a Crystal Lake apartment complex. Vlot, of Weatherford, Texas, shot Goldstein to death amid a bitter divorce and custody fight between his daughter Joann, and Philip Goldstein over the couple's two daughters. The girls, at the time 10- and 9-years old, witnessed Vlot shoot their father to death.

The fatal shooting occurred the same morning Philip Goldstein was scheduled to appear before a McHenry County judge to oppose his wife's request to take the girls to Texas to visit her parents over Thanksgiving.

Goldstein's father, Jerome Goldstein, sued Vlot and his former daughter-in-law, claiming they potted the murder to assure she would receive custody after the divorce.

During a three-day trial leading up to Friday night's verdict, Joann Goldstein repeatedly denied on the witness stand that she played in role in her husband's murder.