November 15, 2022
By: Dwayne Page
An Algood man indicted two years ago in connection with the drug-related death of a Smithville woman was sentenced Monday, November 14 in DeKalb County Criminal Court.
43-year-old Patrick Goolsby entered a plea to a charge of attempted second degree murder and received an effective 15-year sentence as a range I offender to serve at least 30% before his release eligibility date.
The charges against Goolsby in November 2020 were the result of a joint investigation by Special Agents with the Drug Investigation Division of the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation and the DeKalb County Sheriff’s Department. Goolsby was named in grand jury indictments that month charging him with one count of Second-Degree Murder and one count of Sale and Delivery of a Schedule II Controlled Substance.
In June, 2020 agents joined deputies in investigating the death of 45-year-old Jennifer Leighann Jacobs. She was found deceased on May 22nd, 2020 in her Smithville home of a drug overdose, with fentanyl determined as a contributing factor. The investigation revealed that on May 18th, 2020 the victim had purchased drugs by an individual identified as Patrick Goolsby.
Count 1 of the indictment alleged that “between the dates of May 18-22, 2020 Patrick Ryan Goolsby unlawfully and recklessly killed Jennifer Leighanne Jacobs by the unlawful distribution or unlawful delivery or unlawful dispensation of fentanyl, and the said fentanyl was the proximate cause of the death of Jacobs”.
Count 2 alleged that Goolsby, on or about the 18th day of May 2020 unlawfully and knowingly sold a controlled substance, to wit: fentanyl, a schedule II-controlled substance.
Count 3 alleged that Goolsby, or or about the 18th day of May, 2020 unlawfully and knowingly delivered a controlled substance, to wit: fentanyl, a schedule II-controlled substance.
As part of the plea agreement, the drug charges against Goolsby were dropped with his guilty plea for attempted second degree murder.