MAHONING COUNTY Jail release challenged

YOUNGSTOWN -- A lawyer representing Judge Timothy P. Maloney of Mahoning County Probate Court has filed objections to a federal magistrate's ruling that Richard Goldberg was held illegally in the Mahoning County jail.
Linette Stratford, an assistant Mahoning County prosecutor, said Tuesday she filed the objection Monday at the same time the state opposed a bond to let Goldberg out of jail.
U.S. District Judge Peter C. Economus released Goldberg, 59, a former lawyer, on a $50,000 unsecured bond.
Goldberg, who last lived in Liberty Township, 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, who concluded Goldberg concealed $1.2 million that should have been paid to clients. He found Goldberg in contempt of court.
U.S. Magistrate Judge James S. Gallas, in a 50-page report, concluded that Judge Maloney erred when he found Goldberg in contempt for three of four estate cases. The magistrate upheld one case's three-month sentence.
Judge Economus now has 20 days to rule on the matter.
Goldberg faces a trial on state charges next year that mirror the charges he pleaded guilty to in federal court in 1999.