A Baltimore County judge has determined that an Army veteran accused of trying to steal a $3.1 million private jet used by Sun co-owner David Smith is not criminally responsible for the act.
Circuit Judge Thomas Tompsett Jr. made the ruling on Tuesday after Joseph Goldman, 43, pleaded guilty to an attempted theft charge. The judge’s ruling that Goldman was not criminally responsible, Maryland’s equivalent to the insanity defense, means that he will be committed to the Maryland Department of Health, rather than prison.
Goldman’s defense attorney, Isaac Klein, did not immediately return requests for comment on Tuesday.
Goldman, who served in the Army as a military police officer, has been jailed at the Baltimore County Detention Center since his arrest last September at Martin State Airport. Police wrote in charging documents that Goldman entered a restricted area of the Middle River airport to access the unattended Gulfstream G-IV aircraft and turned the engine on. He was stopped by the plane’s actual pilot, police said.
The aircraft had been “left unattended” before Goldman was found, police wrote, noting that Goldman had a pilot’s license and knew how to fly a plane.
The private jet is used by David Smith, co-owner of The Baltimore Sun and executive chairman of Sinclair Broadcast Group, a company based in Hunt Valley that owns television stations, including Baltimore’s FOX45.
At Goldman’s bail review, he indicated that security had let him in and expressed confusion about the charges. The next day, a district court judge ordered the 43-year-old to undergo a competency evaluation to determine if he was mentally fit to stand trial.
In Maryland, defendants can be deemed not competent to stand trial if they are not able to understand the nature of the legal proceedings and whether they can assist in their defense. They are committed to the health department but can face trial if and when they are found competent.
Finding a defendant not criminally responsible is a more final ruling. If a judge or jury determines that a defendant either did not understand their actions were illegal or could not conform to the law because of a mental disorder or developmental disability, the person can be committed to the health department or released. There is, however, a major backlog of space in those health department facilities.
Goldman had faced charges including trespassing and felony theft. His two theft charges carried a combined maximum sentence of 25 years in prison.
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