MAHONING COUNTY Judge denies Goldberg's request to be released

A local judge worries about a potential lawsuit if Goldberg is right.
YOUNGSTOWN -- Disbarred lawyer Richard Goldberg remains in the Mahoning County jail today, despite his contention he is being held there illegally.
At a hearing Tuesday, lawyer Martin E. Yavorcik asked Judge R. Scott Krichbaum of common pleas court to release his client on bond pending Goldberg's trial on state charges he stole money from clients.
Yavorcik maintains four contempt charges imposed by Judge Timothy P. Maloney against Goldberg are misdemeanors, and that the penalty, by state law, should have been served at the same time as Goldberg's felony time on the federal theft charges.
Time served
Goldberg, 59, formerly of Liberty Township, has served 13 months of the 21-month contempt sentence imposed by Judge Maloney in May 2000.
Linette Stratford, an assistant county prosecutor, argued against bond being set. She said the common pleas court had no jurisdiction to set bond. But all Mahoning County judges had excused themselves from hearing any criminal cases involving Goldberg for professional and personal reasons.
Judge Krichbaum refused to release Goldberg, but urged that a visiting judge, or some court, be appointed immediately to take up Goldberg's contention he is in jail illegally.
The judge said he's concerned that if a court rules Goldberg has been illegally detained, the county could be liable for a big lawsuit. He added the county couldn't take another financial hit, especially in light of voter rejection of a half-percent sales tax last month.
The contempt terms began immediately after Goldberg finished just more than 50 months in a federal prison for keeping millions of dollars that should have gone to former clients for lawsuit settlements.
Ruling
Judge Maloney ruled that Goldberg, while working as a medical malpractice lawyer, kept a total of $1.2 million that should have been paid to clients in four cases. The judge found him in contempt on each of those cases.
Yavorcik filed a motion in September that said Judge Maloney's sentence was based on four misdemeanor counts of contempt. Under Ohio law, if a person is sentenced to jail for misdemeanor crimes while serving time for felonies the sentences must run concurrently.
Stratford argued, however, that the issue of whether the contempt charges are misdemeanors was not addressed specifically by a visiting judge, who in October denied Goldberg's writ for habeas corpus.
A writ of habeas corpus requires that a person detained be brought before a court to decide the legality of that detention or imprisonment.
Other lawyers who have represented Goldberg have tried unsuccessfully to have the state charges against him dismissed.