MAHONING COUNTY Judge sets bail hearing for jailed ex-lawyer

Richard D. Goldberg has been in the county jail since October 2003.
YOUNGSTOWN -- A federal judge will consider setting bail for disbarred attorney Richard D. Goldberg, whose lawyers say is being held illegally in the Mahoning County jail.
U.S. District Judge Peter C. Economus, in an order issued Friday, scheduled a hearing for 11 a.m. Monday and instructed the jail warden to bring Goldberg to court.
Goldberg's Columbus lawyers filed a motion Wednesday asking for the hearing, based on a federal magistrate's recommendation to Judge Economus to vacate Goldberg's county jail sentence.
'Freed immediately'
The lawyers say Goldberg, a former medical malpractice attorney, should be released on bail until the judge decides whether to accept the recommendation. They say he should be immediately freed from the "unlawful sentences imposed by probate Judge Timothy P. Maloney [of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court]."
Goldberg, 59, of Liberty, bilked clients of roughly $4.5 million and was sentenced to 51 months in federal prison. He was released in October 2003.
Once released, Goldberg was transferred to the county jail to serve 21 months imposed by Judge Maloney. The judge had concluded that Goldberg concealed $1.2 million that should have been paid to four clients.
As it stands, Goldberg is set to be released from the county jail on July 24.
U.S. Magistrate Judge James S. Gallas, in a 50-page report issued Tuesday, concluded that Judge Maloney erred when he found Goldberg in contempt of court for three of four estate cases. The magistrate upheld one case's three-month sentence.
The magistrate said the errors in the three cases cannot be rectified without resuming the court proceedings at their initial stage. He recommended to Judge Economus that the cases be remanded and the sentences, which total 18 months, be vacated.
Object
Two Cincinnati lawyers and an assistant Mahoning County prosecutor who represent Maloney have 10 days to object to the magistrate's recommendation. The county is expected to object to the release. Judge Economus would then have 20 days after he receives the objection to rule on the matter.
Goldberg's Youngstown attorney Martin E. Yavorcik, has said the 21 months Judge Maloney imposed in May 2000 on misdemeanor contempt convictions should have been served concurrent with Goldberg's federal time.
Goldberg has a case pending in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court in February. Some of the charges -- theft, engaging a pattern of corrupt activity and forgery -- mirror those he pleaded guilty to in federal court.