Top prosecutors say commonwealth's attorney who did favors for nude images should quit

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Two leading Kentucky prosecutors say the commonwealth’s attorney who appeared to do favors in court for a defendant in exchange for her nude images should resign.

The Courier Journal reported Monday that dozens of Facebook messages appear to show Commonwealth's Attorney Ronnie Goldy promising to help defendant Misty Helton in return for nude pictures and videos.

“If everything reported by the newspaper is true, I don’t see how he can stay in office. I don’t know how there could be a reasonable explanation for this," said Brian Wright, president of the Kentucky Commonwealth’s Attorneys’ Association.

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Wright, the elected prosecutor in Adair and Casey counties, said, "These are terrible, awful allegations."

Kenton Commonwealth’s Attorney Rob Sanders, the association’s legislative co-chair, said: “There is no excusing this conduct. It reflects poorly on prosecutors and undermines Kentuckians' faith in the criminal justice system.

"Ronnie Goldy should resign,” Sanders said.

In addition to Wright and Sanders, members Hardin Commonwealth’s Attorney Shane Young and Courtney Baxter, elected prosecutor for Oldham, Henry and Trimble counties, said they support giving the council disciplinary authority.

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Both Wright and all three commonwealth’s attorney representatives on the council say Goldy’s reported misconduct shows the Prosecutors Advisory Council needs to be given the authority to discipline prosecutors.

They also cited the case of Christian County Commonwealth’s Attorney Rick Boling, who judges banned from the courthouse for lying in a letter pleading for clemency for Dayton Jones, who was convicted of sodomizing an unconscious teen with a sex toy.

The Kentucky Supreme Court also said Boling presented false and misleading information to a grand jury, forcing the dismissal of a manslaughter charge.

The nine-member Prosecutors Advisory Council, headed by the attorney general, provides training and administers financing for the state prosecutor system. But it has no power to suspend or sanction prosecutors.

In addition to Wright and Sanders, members Hardin Commonwealth’s Attorney Shane Young and Courtney Baxter, elected prosecutor for Oldham, Henry and Trimble counties, said they support giving the council disciplinary authority.

Both also said they think Goldy should resign if the allegations against him are true.

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Neither Goldy nor his attorney, James Davis, responded to emails about whether he expects to remain in office.

Helton also has declined to comment on the Facebook messages.

Elizabeth Kuhn, a spokesperson for Attorney General Daniel Cameron, said it is the "prerogative of the collective PAC Council, of which Attorney General Cameron is one member, to request that the General Assembly make changes to the Council’s authority."

She did not respond to a question about whether Cameron thinks Goldy should resign.

'When do I get to see a video?'

The Courier Journal reported that in 230 pages of Facebook messages sent from 2018 to 2020, Goldy, commonwealth’s attorney for Bath, Menifee, Montgomery and Rowan counties, told Helton he would talk to judges about continuing her cases and setting aside warrants in exchange for the nude images.

In one conversation, for example, on June 5, 2018, he asked, “When do I get to see a video?”

She replied, “When I do I not have a warrant hahaha.”

In another, she asked, “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.”

In a third, Helton agreed to make another video for him because he got a bond taken care of for her on a Sunday.

Allegations could result in criminal misconduct

In a brief interview, Goldy, who was first elected in 2012, denied he did favors for Helton but declined to offer any explanation for the Facebook messages, which emerged in an unrelated criminal case against a former judge where Goldy is a potential witness.

Thomas Clay, the judge’s lawyer who obtained the Facebook messages and provided them to The Courier Journal, said in court he had given them to the FBI as well, and Circuit Judge David Barber confirmed the FBI was in the Eastern Kentucky judicial circuit investigating.

Authorities on prosecutorial conduct told The Courier Journal that Goldy's actions violated ethics rules and might constitute official misconduct, a misdemeanor.

R. Michael Cassidy, the author of “Prosecutorial Ethics,” a leading work on the topic, said in the story that “even a fifth-grader would know this is inappropriate and doesn’t pass the smell test.”

Andrew Wolfson: 502-582-7189; awolfson@courier-journal.com; Twitter: @adwolfson.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: KY prosecutors call on colleague to resign over favors for nude images