District Attorney Walt Merrell stated after Godwin’s plea that, “this is a landmark for Covington County. Women have suffered too long at the hands of abusive men, and until the passage of this law, they suffered at the hands of a legal system that failed them due to this loop hole. No more. Women deserve equal rights under the law and we are going to give them equal protection in the courtroom.”
 
Godwin was sentenced to twenty years in prison.