Polo John GoodmanToday, a judge in Florida sentenced Polo Club founder John Goodman to 16 years in prison on DUI murder charges.  He was also fined $10,000.

“He left to try and save himself,” said West Palm Beach Judge Jeffrey Colbath of the 48-year-old’s decision to flee the scene after causing the February 2010 crash that killed 23-year-old Scott Wilson.

Colbath said that while Goodman was “extremely intoxicated at the time,” he should have known better than to leave the accident scene without helping Wilson, who drowned after his car was hurled into a canal.

Goodman had faced up to 30 years behind bars.

Goodman’s attorneys are now attempting to appeal the guilty verdict over alleged jury misconduct.

Earlier, Colbath rejected a bid from the defense team to overturn the guilty verdict based on juror Dennis DeMartin’s claim that he conducted a drinking experiment the night before he and the other jurors convicted Goodman.

DeMartin said that he drank the same amount of alcohol Goodman allegedly drank the night of the fateful accident to test the exec’s state of mind. DeMartin made the allegations in a self-published book, “Believing in the Truth,” which was just released last week.

Goodman’s attorney, Roy Black, had asked the judge to toss out the conviction based on DeMartin’s actions, which he claimed were a clear case of juror misconduct.

“Is that misconduct? I think that it is,” Colbath said. But “I don’t think it’s material. I don’t think it’s prejudicial.”

In addition to DeMartin’s claims, juror Michael St. John said he felt pressured into convicting Goodman and said he wasn’t entirely sure of his guilt.

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