How bad is bad? How about when DIVORCE proceedings take a much bigger toll than the cash in your wallet, the equity in your home, and the “love,” long loss from the days of I do?
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 Cunninghams 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, Peggys 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 Cunninghams 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. Rons 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 childrens 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 “Gods Work,” shit happens.
Straight Talk with John J. Nazarian, private investigator, security consultant, reporter
February 27, 2012
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