Born on August 5, 1928, in New York City,[1] Goettel received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Duke University in 1950.
He received a Juris Doctor from Columbia Law School in 1955.
He was an Assistant United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York from 1955 to 1958.
He was deputy chief of the United States Attorney General's Special Group on Organized Crime from 1958 to 1959.
Goettel was nominated by President Gerald Ford on March 2, 1976, to a seat on the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York vacated by Judge Arnold Bauman.