Impeachment hearing begins for Ronnie Goldy Jr.

FRANKFORT, Ky. (WTVQ) — Last September, The Kentucky Supreme Court suspended, an Eastern Kentucky prosecutor who offered to help a female defendant in exchange for nude photos.
Ronnie Goldy Jr. was the commonwealth attorney for Bath, Menifee, Montgomery and Rowan Counties.
At the time, the court could only temporarily suspend him, adding that the General Assembly would be able to remove Goldy from office through impeachment.

“To directly quote, Mr. Rob Sanders, who provided testimony to our committee, if not now, when would you ever impeach a Commonwealth Attorney, short of killing someone or committing another violent physical fence as far as ethics goes, this is as unethical as it gets,” says, state representative Daniel Elliott, who is also a part of the House Impeachment Committee.

Goldy Jr. resigned after allegations he promised a female defendant Misty Helton, various favors in court in exchange for nude images.

Goldy sent a letter of resignation to the governor, claiming it would go into effect at the end of February.

“He would also occasionally send her money admitting to sending her at least $25. This went as far as Mr. Goldy communicating with judges and Commonwealth attorneys and other judicial circuits, in hopes for a better outcome for her,” added Rep. Elliott.

Last September Goldy was suspended by the Kentucky Supreme Court and resigned in February. But some say, that’s not enough.

“And the purpose of impeachment is not just a force, bad actors to resign it is to ensure the public trust cannot be further betrayed. And to put it simply, Mr. Goldy cannot be trusted with any public office and should be barred from seeking one in the future,”  said Elliott.

The Courier Journal previously reported that Goldy exchanged 230 pages of Facebook messages with Helton.
At that time Helton had said Goldy withdrew warrants and had cases continued in exchange for photos.

“There’s no way to read through the context of those messages and come away with any conclusion other than that’s what he was asking, and almost begging for, by the time he got through several of those messages, it was over and over and over again, added Brian Wright, commonwealth attorney for the 29th judicial district.

The House Impeachment Committee submitting substantial evidence to the Senate panel.

But the hearing missed one person, “would Ronnie Lee Goldy Jr. or anyone acting as a legal representative of Ronnie Lee Goldy Jr. like to come forward to offer a closing statement? Seeing as neither Ronnie Goldy Jr. or anyone acting on his behalf, this body will stand in recess until the call of the chair,” were Sen. Brandon Storm’s last remarks during the hearing.

The House Impeachment Committee is now tasked with a draft of findings of fact regarding the allegations.