A 35-year-old woman arrested in February in connection with a child custody dispute will escape prosecution.
Trena Goist was accused of “punching out” the rear wing window of a car and then striking the face a 12-year-old seated in the back seat on Live Oak Drive in Fruitland Park, according to an arrest report from the Lake County Sheriff’s Office. The child’s mother was in the front seat of the vehicle when this occurred. Goist’s husband and their children were also present.
Goist was “very emotional” due to her husband signing the children out of school, the report indicated.
Due to Lake County Court records, Goist’s husband had filed for divorce on Feb. 17.
Goist began screaming and getting all of the children upset. The children began screaming and crying attracting attention in the neighborhood, the report said. The woman whose child had been struck told a deputy she wanted to see Goist prosecuted.
Goist was arrested on charges of simple battery and disorderly intoxication. The other woman involved in the incident sought an order of protection against Goist, but she was denied.
On Aug. 4, the prosecutor’s office announced no information would be filed in the case.
“Given the lack of victim/witness cooperation and the lack of unbiased independent witnesses, the state cannot prove the elements of the offense beyond a reasonable doubt,” said Brad King, state attorney, Fifth Judicial Circuit of Florida.
