La Plata, MD – For Clifton Jerome Goldring, 54 of Forestville (originally of Bryantown), facing sentencing on second-degree burglary charges stemming back to 2007, being in front of Charles County Circuit Court Judge Amy J. Bragunier Wednesday, Oct. 28 was not going well right out of the blocks.
Charles County Assistant State’s Attorney Constance Kopleman read out a litany of previous convictions ranging from possession of cocaine, battery and theft charges dating back to 1990.
The 2007 charges came from Goldring’s attempt to break into a church gift shop.
“His DNA was all over the place,” Kopelman stated. “He got a very good offer that was way below guidelines. The state is asking for backup time,” she added. “He has lived a life of crime, unfortunately.”
“At that time, Mr. Goldring was going a lot of drugs,” Charles County Assistant Public Defender Elizabeth Connor told the court. “He has been doing really much better. He’s been calling his parole officer, he hasn’t picked up any new charges. Urine analysis so far has been negative. Since this occurred in 2007, he did not violate probation,” she said. “He has a record that’s too old. He’s stayed out of trouble.”
“I am getting my life back,” Goldring said. “It’s the end of the road in a good way. I’m not doing drugs. I’m out of that. I’m going down the right road.”
“What positive things are you doing?” Bragunier asked.
“I’m staying away from drugs,” he answered. “I’ve been trying to find work. It’s tough out there, but I’m not giving up. I know my record is very bad. There are things in my past I regret today. That’s the old me. There’s a new me now.”
“I understand this is an older case and you have paid restitution,” Bragunier said. “This is a little bit of an unusual case.”
Bragunier sentenced Goldring to 15 years but suspended all of that time and placed him on five years of unsupervised probation.
“You’ve just been given this gift,” she told the defendant. “You need to not waste it.”
Contact Joseph Norris at joe.norris@thebaynet.com