MAHONING COUNTY Goldberg lawyer requests dismissal

It's the second time Goldberg's lawyers have pursued the argument.
By BOB JACKSON
VINDICATOR COURTHOUSE REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Lawyers for disbarred attorney Richard Goldberg are again asking a court to determine that their client should not stand trial on state criminal charges for defrauding clients.
They say Mahoning County Prosecutor Paul Gains reneged on a promise that he would not indict Goldberg, a former medical malpractice lawyer, on state charges if he pleaded guilty to federal charges, which Goldberg did in 1999.
The argument already was made once and rejected by Visiting Judge Stephen Yarbrough, who ruled in October 2002 that no such agreement existed.
Atty. Martin Yavorcik filed documents Tuesday asking the 7th District Court of Appeals to overturn that decision.
"It's our opinion that there was an agreement between Gains and Goldberg's previous lawyers not to prosecute him if he pled guilty in federal court, which he did," Yavorcik said.
Scheduled for trial
Goldberg, who turned 59 Monday, is scheduled for trial June 14 in common pleas court. He faces 30 felony counts including forgery, theft and engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity.
He is in the county jail, serving a 21-month sentence for contempt of court, imposed by Judge Timothy P. Maloney of probate court. The judge ruled Goldberg was hiding assets that should have gone to his former clients.
Goldberg already has served some 50 months in a federal prison for bilking those clients out of more than $4 million that was due them from case settlements.
Yavorcik is working with Columbus lawyers Karl Schneider and Brian Dickerson. They are hanging their hats on what they say was the agreement between Gains and Goldberg's original defense lawyers, J. Gerald Ingram and Charles Dunlap.
At a hearing in February 2002, Gains testified that he did make such a promise, but only on the condition that Goldberg fully cooperated with federal authorities by revealing the names of all his victims and the amounts he stole from them.
When Gains found out there were victims other than the ones named in the federal court plea agreement, he considered that a breach of the oral pact and proceeded with state charges.
Judge Yarbrough ruled that Gains did nothing wrong and allowed the charges against Goldberg to stand.
Yavorcik is asking the appellate court to overturn Judge Yarbrough's decision, saying Gains violated a nonprosecution agreement. If the appellate court rules in his favor, the state charges against Goldberg would be dropped, Yavorcik said.
Gains said he had not seen Yavorcik's motion and he declined to comment.
bjackson@vindy.com