(LEX 18) — On day two of the federal trial of former prosecutor Ronnie Goldy, the woman at the center of the case took the stand.
Misty Helton is the woman on the other end of the hundreds of Facebook messages that started the allegations against Goldy.
The messages, released by another attorney in 2022, allegedly show months of conversations between the two.
Goldy's facing six counts of honest service wire fraud, six counts of violating the "Travel Act," and two counts of federal program bribery.
He is accused of doing legal favors for Helton in exchange for nude photos and videos of her.
In court Wednesday, jurors were shown dozens of the messages as Helton gave context from the stand.
Through questioning by federal prosecutor Andy Boone, Helton recounted meeting Goldy for the first time while she was in jail and how she says their relationship gradually went from friendly to sexual.
At first, Goldy believed he was related to Helton, Helton said. But they later learned that was not the case, and Helton said that's when the relationship started to change.
Helton said that during their relationship, Goldy portrayed himself as influential in the court system and could handle any problem she had. She said he took care of issues ranging from bonds to warrants to helping her get her car back after it had been towed by law enforcement.
As Boone introduced page after page of Facebook messages, Helton said many of them were showing her asking for help with her court cases and Goldy asking for explicit videos in return.
In a 2022 interview with LEX 18, Helton said her relationship with Goldy became transactional. She echoed that in court on Wednesday.
When asked what she thought would have happened had she ended her relationship with Goldy, Helton said she'd already discussed it with him.
"Those same loopholes you go through to help me, you could go through them to f me over," Helton said.
Multiple witnesses at trial so far have mentioned that Goldy had mentioned Helton was a confidential informant or implied she was working with police.
On the stand Wednesday, Helton said she had never worked as an informant.
"I'm a defendant; we don't do that," Helton said before adding, "I had Ronnie in my pocket; I didn't need to."
Before Helton, commonwealth's attorney Brandon Ison, who serves Carter, Elliott, and Morgan counties, talked about his time as a special prosecutor on one of Helton's cases after Goldy recused.
The case, which involved a trafficking charge, began with an arrest in which former Owingsville police officer Billy Rudd saw a Facebook message from Ronnie Goldy on Helton's phone lock screen.
On Tuesday, Rudd testified he brought up seeing the message from Goldy during the preliminary hearing of that case against Helton.
Helton said Wednesday that that is why Goldy recused from her case, saying it was the first time their connection had been publicly revealed.
Also testifying Wednesday morning was Circuit Court Judge David Barber. He serves the same circuit Goldy served, which covers Bath, Montgomery, Rowan, and Menifee counties.
Barber testified that during a court hearing in which Helton expressed frustration over trying to get her car back after police impounded it, she said in open court that she'd "just call Ronnie."
Helton was expected to continue testifying Wednesday afternoon as the trial continues.
