Feds say Kentucky prosecutor who sought nude photos of defendant should serve 51 months
The federal government is seeking a sentence of four years and three months in prison for a former Kentucky prosecutor who solicited nude photos from a woman he did favors for in court.
Ronnie Goldy is scheduled to be sentenced Wednesday, May 24.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew T. Boone filed a sentencing memorandum Wednesday arguing Goldy deserves the maximum sentence under advisory guidelines, in part because he lied while testifying at his trial.
Goldy, 52, was the commonwealth’s attorney — the felony prosecutor — in Rowan, Bath, Montgomery and Menifee counties from 2013 until February 2023.
He resigned as state legislators considered impeaching him.
A federal grand jury later charged that he did favors such as getting court dates continued for Misty Helton, a woman with a long record of charges for theft, drug trafficking and other offenses, and asked Helton to send him explicit photos and videos in exchange.
In one instance, Goldy told Helton he had gotten arrest warrants set aside for her, then sent a message saying, “U owe me a very good video or two,” according to the court record.
A jury in federal court in Lexington convicted Goldy on several charges, including honest services wire fraud. That was a charge that he defrauded the public out of the honest services he owed as an elected official.
Goldy’s attorney, Michael J. Curtis, said in a sentencing memorandum that Goldy was well-regarded as an attorney but will lose his profession as a result of being convicted.
Curtis sought a sentence of 33 months for Goldy.
In federal court, the U.S. Probation and Parole service calculates a potential sentencing range based on a number of factors, including a defendant’s criminal record and role in a crime.
Judges don’t have to sentence people within the guideline range, but often do in order to avoid imposing significantly different sentences on people for similar crimes.
Curtis said the range for Goldy should be 33 to 41 months, so the sentence he sought would be at the bottom end.
However, Boone argued the guideline range should be 41 to 51 months, and said the government would seek a sentence at the top, along with a $15,000 fine.
Exchange of explicit images
Helton testified during the trial that she understood messages Goldy sent her to be requests for explicit images, and that she sent him nude photos.
Goldy testified that Helton send him photos, but that he never asked her to send him explicit photos or videos.
The guilty verdict showed the jury found Goldy’s testimony to be false, meaning it was an attempt to obstruct justice. That qualifies for an enhancement to the sentencing range, Boone said.
Boone asked Chief U.S. District Judge Danny C. Reeves to apply another enhancement as well, alleging Goldy involved a minor in his crimes.
Helton testified that when news broke about the Facebook messages between her and Goldy about explicit images, Goldy called her on a number she didn’t recognize.
Goldy later told another person in his office that he had used a phone belonging to a friend of his minor son to call Helton and tell her not to talk to police or the media, according to the prosecution memo.
Boone said that Goldy should have used his power to punish crimes and protect the public, but instead used it to maintain a personal, and sometimes predatory, relationship with a criminal defendant.
“Goldy’s crimes reflect stunning abuses of his authority and the public’s trust,” Boone wrote.
Reeves will resolve questions about the proper sentencing range for Goldy at the hearing next week.
