Goettie, Michael L

Tenure Summary

Michael L. Goettie entered Georgia Department of Corrections service as a corrections officer in 2015 and was promoted steadily: Correctional Officer 2 in 2016, Correctional Lieutenant from 2017 through 2019, Correctional Unit Manager in 2020, and Deputy Warden at Rogers State Prison from 2021 onward, a post the records show him holding through August 27, 2026. The positions listing does not attach a facility to his 2015–2020 staff and unit-supervisor roles; only the Deputy Warden postings name Rogers State Prison.

During that leadership tenure, 14 deaths are attributed to Rogers State Prison — the total for his leadership, all of them while he held the Deputy Warden role. The deaths span March 17, 2021, through February 19, 2026, and range in age from 21 to 60. GPS's registry classifies five as suicide, three as overdose, four as natural/medical, and two as unknown/pending. One lawsuit naming him as a defendant, Daker v. Oliver, was filed in 2025 and terminated in 2026.

What happened on their watch

Deputy Warden, Rogers State Prison (2021–2026). GPS's registry attributes all 14 deaths to this facility during Goettie's tenure as Deputy Warden. The following people died there:

• Chad Walker Jeter died March 17, 2021, at Rogers State Prison; GPS's registry lists the cause as Suicide, age 43.
• Michael Glenn Mckee died May 22, 2021, at Rogers State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Suicide, age 59.
• Jeremy Lasean Walton died June 12, 2021, at Rogers State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Suicide, age 31.
• Timothy Brent Jenkins died April 7, 2022, at Rogers State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Overdose, age 22.
• Caleb Sexton died April 22, 2022, at Rogers State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Overdose, age 21.
• Bradley Lyle Weitzel died March 21, 2023, at Rogers State Prison; GPS lists the cause as Unknown/Pending, age 40.
• William Joseph Smiley died August 15, 2023, at Rogers State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Overdose, age 41.
• Randall Henry Baker died December 6, 2023, at Rogers State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Natural/Medical, age 38.
• Shawn Remar Johnson died July 23, 2024, at Rogers State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Natural/Medical, age 34.
• Taylor Anthony Hunt died September 28, 2024, at Rogers State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Suicide, age 29.
• David Edward Wood died February 4, 2025, at Rogers State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Natural/Medical. No age is given.
• Justin Waymon Hollingsworth died June 26, 2025, at Rogers State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Suicide, age 43.
• Randy Eugene Stewart died July 17, 2025, at Rogers State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Natural/Medical, age 60.
• John Meeks died February 19, 2026, at Rogers State Prison; GPS lists the cause as Unknown/Pending, age 49.

Cause-category patterns within the tenure include a 2021 cluster of three suicides (Jeter, Mckee, Walton) and a 2022 pair of overdoses among men aged 21 and 22 (Jenkins, Sexton).

The most contested death in the records is Taylor Hunt's. GPS intelligence event files carry multiple entries on Hunt's death at Rogers State Prison, each recorded while Goettie held the Deputy Warden role. Those entries allege that GDC classified the death as a suicide despite evidence of trauma — ligature marks, broken bones, bruises, puncture wounds and stab wounds — and that the official ruling was contradicted by the physical evidence and suggests homicide. These are the allegations of the reporting captured in those event entries; GPS's registry line for Hunt records the cause as Suicide. No news mention in these records names Goettie directly.

Litigation

• Daker v. Oliver Filing Restriction Per 59 Order, case 1:25-cv-03191, filed June 6, 2025, in the GAND court, terminated March 30, 2026. No monetary outcome is recorded. Goettie is listed as a defendant; the records do not describe the claims or the basis of his inclusion.

Sources

• Georgia Prisoners' Speak death registry — 14 deaths at Rogers State Prison attributed to Goettie's Deputy Warden tenure, 2021–2026, with names, dates, ages and cause categories.
• Georgia Prisoners' Speak intelligence event records — multiple entries on the Taylor Hunt death at Rogers State Prison (allegations of trauma inconsistent with a suicide ruling).
• CourtListener docket, Daker v. Oliver Filing Restriction Per 59 Order, 1:25-cv-03191 (GAND), filed 2025-06-06, terminated 2026-03-30.
• Georgia Department of Corrections position and salary records — Goettie's career sequence from Correctional Officer (2015) through Deputy Warden at Rogers State Prison (2021–2026).

Synthesized by GPS Intelligence System on Sep 27, 2026 from positions, attributed deaths, lawsuits, intel reports, and news mentions in the public corpus. The supporting data tables follow below.