Michael Goodman pleaded guilty to murder in the 2023 killing of Sarabi Medina, who had just returned from buying ice cream.
CHICAGO — A Chicago man was sentenced Thursday to 40 years in prison for killing 9-year-old Sarabi Medina outside her family’s Portage Park home in 2023, bringing a criminal case that stretched more than three years to a close.
Michael Goodman, 46, received the sentence Nov. 5 as part of a negotiated plea agreement after pleading guilty to murder. Cook County Judge Tyria Walton imposed the 40-year term. Local reports said Goodman will receive credit for roughly three years already spent in custody and will serve the remaining sentence without the possibility of parole.
The killing happened Aug. 5, 2023, in the 3500 block of North Long Avenue on Chicago’s Northwest Side. Prosecutors said Sarabi had been outside with her father, Michael Medina, while he spoke with friends. One of the friends gave the girl money, and she went to a nearby ice cream truck, returning with two ice cream cones — one for herself and one for her father.
Minutes later, prosecutors said, a gunshot was heard nearby. Sarabi’s father told her to take her scooter and return to their apartment. Goodman, who lived across the street, then emerged from his building carrying a handgun and approached the girl, according to the prosecution’s account of the shooting.
Prosecutors said Sarabi’s father confronted Goodman and tried to stop him, but Goodman continued toward the girl and followed her toward the entrance of her apartment building. Goodman then fatally shot Sarabi. Her father tackled Goodman, and the firearm discharged again during the struggle, striking Goodman in the eye. Sarabi was taken to Stroger Hospital, where she died.
Authorities initially charged Goodman with first-degree murder and held him without bail. Prosecutors said witnesses identified him as the shooter and investigators recovered a handgun, shell casings and ammunition as part of the case. Reports from the time said Goodman and Sarabi’s family did not know one another despite living across the street from each other.
During the sentencing proceedings, Goodman said through a statement read by his attorney that he had been struggling with depression and post-traumatic stress disorder and had taken ketamine before the shooting. He said he did not remember killing Sarabi. The claims about his mental state were Goodman’s account and did not change his guilty plea or the sentence imposed by the court.
Sarabi’s family rejected Goodman’s explanation. Her father told ABC7 Chicago that the family had been yelling at Goodman during the attack and said Goodman appeared focused on his daughter. Other relatives described the lasting grief caused by the killing and said the family supported resolving the case through a plea agreement rather than enduring a trial that would force them to revisit the shooting in court.
FOX 32 Chicago reported that Goodman pleaded guilty the month before sentencing and agreed to the 40-year term as part of the negotiated resolution. Family members delivered victim-impact statements at Thursday’s hearing, describing how Sarabi’s death continued to affect them more than three years later.
The sentencing ends the criminal prosecution over Sarabi’s 2023 killing. Goodman is expected to remain imprisoned for decades under the terms of the plea agreement, while Sarabi’s relatives said the conclusion of the court case leaves them to continue grieving the child they lost.