GEORGETOWN, Ky. (LEX 18) — Former Scott County coroner John Goble has entered another guilty plea, this time for having perjured himself.
Goble was charged with perjury during a state trial in 2019, during which he testified to transporting organ donors’ eyes out of state in a family member’s car. Goble was driving a county-issued vehicle. He was facing additional state charges, but those were dropped for several reasons, including consideration of a Kentucky statute that applies a form of double jeopardy to similar charges in multiple cases. Goble was scheduled to be sentenced later this month for entering a guilty plea on federal charges for his role in stealing and storing weapons and ammunition from Kentucky State Police.
“There’s a state statute that says if you’re prosecuted in federal court for an offense, and the offense is the same as your state trial, then you are barred from being prosecuted in state court,” said Goble’s attorney, Fred Peters. “Normally, double jeopardy would not apply, but it does because of that statute,” he continued.
Goble was using a walker to make his way around Scott County Circuit Court, and his health played a role in his latest plea deal.
“With Mr.Goble’s health, he couldn’t go through a trial, and this is the count (perjury) that Mr. Roberts and I negotiated a plea on,” Mr. Peters said of his dealings with Commonwealth’s Attorney, Larry Roberts.
Roberts recommended a sentence of one year for the perjury admission, while the state statute allows for up to five years. Peters wouldn’t venture to guess what the judge might decide as far as a sentence, nor did he have any idea what his client’s federal sentence might amount to once it's read on September 23.
Goble is scheduled to return to Scott Circuit Court on October 3.
