An eastern Kentucky prosecutor has been accused of exchanging favors for nude photographs of a female defendant.
The Kentucky Bar Association is attempting to temporarily suspend Ronnie Goldy Jr. from practicing law. Goldy serves as the Commonwealth’s Attorney for Rowan, Montgomery, Bath, and Menifee counties.
“He has abused his office, abused the trust of the public and brought the legal system of Kentucky into disrepute,” the Courier Journal reports the petition states.
The petition was filed with the Kentucky Supreme Court by the Kentucky Bar Association’s chief bar counsel Jane Herrick on behalf of an inquiry panel.
The newspaper reports that between 2018 and 2020, Goldy exchanged 230 pages of Facebook messages with defendant Misty Helton telling her that “if she sent him nude images he would talk to the judges about continuing her cases and setting aside warrants.”
In one of the messages, the Courier Journal reports that Goldy asked Helton, “When do I get to see a video?” and she replied, “When I do I not have a warrant hahaha.”
In another message, she asked him, “What do I need to do to get that warrant taken care of — besides the obvious, lmao.” Goldy responded, “Let me ask the judge tomorrow.”
The Kentucky Bar Association’s inquiry panel said the messages “demonstrate Gold’s ‘quid pro quo expectation on multiple occasions’ that he get photos or videos for his ‘intervention in her interest,” the Courier Journal reports.
The inquiry panel, in addition to attempting to have Goldy’s law license temporarily suspended, has initiated disciplinary proceedings that could result in Goldy being reprimanded, suspended or disbarred.
(Photo: Ronnie Goldy Jr., courtesy of LEX18.com)
By Ken Howlett, News Director
Contact Ken at ken@k105.com
