On Wednesday the 22nd of February, Russell Scott Goldberg walked into the the apartment of Margaret “Peggy” Duffy Goldberg and shot her three times, killing her in the kitchen of her home. While their 8 year old son was sitting on a couch watching television in the other room.

Since about November 2010 right up to February 17th, 2012, it is reported that there were approximately 14 days of hearings in Judge David Cunningham’s department 22 at the Stanley Mosk Superior Court here in Los Angeles. All of the hearings conclusions were often met with a certain amount of bravado and sarcasm from Mr. Goldberg, the killer. Except! for the last hearing on Friday the 17th 2012, “something was different.” Patrick DeCarolis, Peggy’s lawyer, noticed something was not right, “it was different,” Mr. Goldberg left the area immediately. In the past he would stand around and make comments and be a little “annoying,” not this Friday…he had noticed something was not right and it was not being his “annoying wiseguy self”.

Mr. DeCarolis, who is a partner at Trope and DeCarolis, was devastated when this reporter interviewed him on Saturday the 25th of February. He recalls that Peggy was “lamenting“ the time this whole process was taking. Can anyone imagine the terror she was going through as her life was being taken one shot, two shot and the third shot from a gun in the hands of her former husband…”till death do us part,” took a whole different direction. Note: Goldberg had no history of any physical abuse, “he never hit her.” For sure he had a reputation of being a jerk, an East Coast attitude thing if you will.

Patrick DeCarolis recalled to me that that last hearing in Judge Cunningham’s court was not a “good day” for the other side. Judge Cunningham had expressed his annoyance as to the time that it was taking on this case. Goldberg was represented by another lawyer in the current proceeding as well as a relative who was a lawyer. This relative brought little or nothing to the case at hand except to add to the madness of this divorce that was already swirling out of control. The end was much closer than anyone could ever have expected.

Russell Scott Goldberg was represented in the early stages by Ron Brot of Brot and Gross. I spoke to Ron and he was shocked to hear that his former client had killed his wife in cold blood and then committed suicide in his car in Beaver, Utah. Ron is a tough lawyer and enjoys a good “battle,” and he too was shocked that his former client would kill his wife. Ron’s thoughts were compassionate as to what “this system can do and how it can drag people into a machine of madness (divorce) and spit them out in conditions that are hard to explain.”

“He loved his kids“ recalls Mr. DeCarolis of Russell Scott Goldberg, the killer of his children’s mother, an 8 year old and a 13 year old. The 13 year old was in school, after Goldberg murdered his wife he took his son to his mother’s house (his mother and Peggy were arch enemies, it is reported to me that they hated each other).

Many may want to point their fingers at Judge Cunningham or at Mr. DeCarolis or Mr. Brot for not being more in tune to the actions that were taking place and its affect on people like Mr. Goldberg. Certainly many could say that Goldberg was a jerk and was not doing anything constructive to get on with his life, folks, it is not easy. Russell Scott Goldberg was being paid alimony from his former wife, the woman he would murder in cold blood. Note: Both Peggy and Russell had choices as to what was happening to the two of them in the world of DIVORCE. Neither could seem to figure it out, got $5.00 each take $2.50…No? Go to DIVORCE court and you will walk away with $.03 each, MAYBE, people it is all in your hands…in DIVORCE court, the odds are against you.

Perhaps if he had moved on and tried to find a job and to make his own living he could have dealt with the “issues” in court on the day everything changed. He found a gun, it would seem, with no problem, too bad he could not have found a job just as easily…he put into motion an act of cowardice and evil beyond belief. “He loved his kids”…maybe not as much as some may have thought.

The decisions that judges make in this country’s courts are often tough ones! As I have stated “can’t do it yourself, then a judge will.” The end result of what happened to Peggy Duffy Goldberg and Russell Scott Goldberg is the same thing as when I was a cop. If in the course of my performing my duty someone killed themselves…sad, I guess, but in the end it is not my problem, when you are assigned to do “God’s Work,” shit happens.

Anthony Pellicano of course famous for his ability to gather information through the tapping of telephones is serving far more years in a Federal Prison than I am sure he ever expected. Anthony was given an additional 15 years on top of what he was serving for a previous conviction. Please keep in mind that much of that sentence was do to his insistence in representing himself, this I believe. Also even a bigger issue was his refusal to ever roll over on any of the lawyers that he worked with and ‘tapped’ for. For those lawyers here at DESPERATEEXES.COM we call them ‘ Very Very Very Lucky’ lawyers. And you all know who you are as I am sure the feds also know, and lots of others know who you are, and on and on it goes.

Had Anthony decided to save his own ass, he could have been a free man, and the Beverly Hills Bar Association would have had a dozen or so less lawyers in its ranks.

That never happened due in part to Mr. Pellicano keeping his mouth shut and loosing his freedom and everything else he owned. That I am sure brings pleasure to many of his victims and again, at some point you have to let the hate go and move on.

“Summing up, the prosecuting attorney stated that he chose to attack the supply rather than the demand, the way that vice investigators attack pimps and prostitutes rather than johns, because “that’s how you make a dent in it.” The johns in this case were the likes of Bert Fields, Brad Grey, Ron Meyer, Michael Ovitz and Chris Rock, all of whom paid Pellicano for services rendered. “If the government has no plans to go higher than Pellicano, this is a depressingly pedestrian effort that shows a lack of ambition,” commented John C. Coffee, a professor at Columbia Law School and an expert on white-collar crime, as quoted in the NY Times story on the verdict.” This paragraph was taken from Mr. Pellicano’s Wikipedia page and I very much agree with almost all of it. Pellicano could have had some of the most powerful lawyers and entertainment execs in Federal Prison had he chosen to talk…..as if it was not bad enough I am sure that proctologist in Beverly Hills were busy for weeks trying to relax some of these assholes ‘Proktos’!

As for Anthonys wife, Kat, I had the opportunity to speak to her a couple of time and what a class act. She was just one of the nicest people and at times you had to recall that old adage,
“ opposites attract “. As to his family that is private and will never be mentioned here on DESPERATEEXES.COM….none of my business. We do not know at this time who will represent her in these proceedings, my suggestions, lets see, Ira Friedman of Friedman & Friedman, Michael Trope of Trope and Decarolis, Judith Forman of Law Offices of Judith Forman, Grace Jamra of Jamra & Jamra, Roz Soudry, Law Offices of Roslyn Soudry…..just a few that I think that would get through this without the usual slaughter of finances.

For us here at DESPERATEEXES.COM and for myself I hope that this goes in a direction of reasonableness and that both these people get the time to move on with their lives. Mr. Pellicano has plenty of time as well as Robert Nachshin to handle this in a sensitive and delicate manner. It is my hope that Mrs. Pellicano will find her own peace and a counter part to take care of the closing of another chapter in her life.

I wish them both ‘Peace and a better future’.

PS….I would love to have that Pelican that sat in the offices on Sunset Boulevard….

Follow John J Nazarian On Face Book and on Twitter and see who John J Nazarian is following.

©Straight Talk by John J. Nazarian, Private Investigator
September 14, 2011
Used with the permission of John Nazarian P. I. – writer
All Rights Reserved, do not reproduce in whole or in part without the express written consent of the author.

Back to Judge Robert E. Willett, a former litigator for over thirty years with the firm of O’Melveney. Pretty much right out of Berkeley’s Boalt Hall School of Law (1974) he went to work with O’Melveney and remained there up until his appointment by former Governor Schwarzenegger in 2010 to the Superior Court bench. Now I am just guessing that this had to be a BIG pay cut for Judge Willett. For any lawyer to become a judge it is almost a crowning point, the icing on the cake and again, Judge Willett was not making minimum wage as a 30 year litigatior with a firm like O’Melveney (sounds like a good name for a cookie). So let’s not do any fund-raising for the good judge, now some judges who had other positions and not with big firms or founding partners, them maybe.

I spoke to several lawyers prior to visiting Dept. 43 and having a seat. Some that I spoke to had a wait-and-see attitude except for Patrick DeCarolis of Trope and Decarolis. Patrick told me that he got a sense of “quiet power“ and furthermore to make his point even more clearly, “I like him.” Well I sat in the front row as I often do and watched and listened as a group of four lawyers attempted to practice law. I immediately saw what Mr. DeCarolis had mentioned, “quiet power,” Judge Willett is not going to wring his hands and I don’t see him sitting on his hands and rocking either, he has been around and in far more difficult positions as a litigator than he will be in the position he holds now. My point is that I think we have a new judge who once he gets his footing is going to be one of our favorites at DesperateExes.com.

Sure he has that smile and glint in his eye, more likely he has that even when he is pissed, you know what I mean? And it is going to be the job of any lawyer in front of Judge Willett to figure out — is he smiling because I am doing a good job or is he thinking, “moron”! To me that is the best part of Judge Robert E. Willett.

Welcome Judge Willett to the “Stanley” from all of us at DesperateExes.com>

Visit Desperate Exes.com to read all of John J. Nazarian’s thoughts on all things of the rich and/or famous.

http://desperateexes.com/2011/06/26/judge-willet-settles-in-at-the-mosk/

Follow Us On Face Book and on Twitter and see who Rose Speaks is following.

©John J. Nazarian
July 1, 2011
Used with the permission of John Nazarian P. I. – writer
All Rights Reserved, do not reproduce in whole or in part without the express written consent of the author.