WASHINGTON — A Montgomery County Circuit Court jury has found David Goldberg guilty for attempted voluntary manslaughter and first- and second-degree assault after he allegedly chased down a couple in a car and stabbed them both.
On Wednesday, the jury found Goldberg guilty on nine counts: two counts of attempted voluntary manslaughter, five counts of first-degree assault, and two counts of second-degree assault.
The incident, which occurred in November 2013, “started, stopped … in multiple locations throughout that parking lot,” says Montgomery County State’s Attorney John McCarthy. “There can be no tolerance for road rage.”
Goldberg claimed Clifton Botts and Rachel Peterson, with their daughter and Peterson’s mother in the car, chased him in his car with his 2-year-old daughter in the back.
He says he crashed trying to avoid them, and that Peterson and Botts then got out and hit his car. Goldberg also claimed he stabbed the pair in self-defense.
Prosecutors say Goldberg was the aggressor, who tried to run the couple down before crashing, then stabbing Botts three times and Peterson once before driving away and calling 911.
Court documents indicate Botts was stabbed in the upper back, left cheek and right bicep. Peterson was reportedly stabbed in the stomach trying to break up the fight between Goldberg and Botts.
The incident concluded in a parking lot near the Macy’s entrance to the Westfield Montgomery Mall in Bethesda.
WTOP’s Megan Cloherty contributed to this report.
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