Charges against man accused of beating terminally ill wife dropped after she dies

CEDAR CITY — A criminal case against a Cedar City man charged with beating his terminally ill wife over the head with her cane was dismissed after the woman died.

"That was a hard one to dismiss, but we couldn't go forward because of her passing," Chief Deputy Iron County Attorney Tory Little said Monday.

Lewis Goldberg, 68, was charged with aggravated abuse of a vulnerable adult, a second-degree felony, and aggravated assault, a third-degree felony. Goldberg "became upset when his wife was cold and wanted to crawl into bed with him," according to the charges filed in 5th District Court.

"The defendant picked up his wife's cane and hit her over the head with it, causing the cane to break into pieces," the charges state.

Officers later discovered a broken cane in the room and a "goose egg" on the woman's head. The woman had terminal cancer and was not able to care for herself.

Both charges were dismissed June 22 at what was supposed to be a preliminary hearing.

"The gist of it is that she said he hit her over the head with the cane and he basically said: 'No, she fell,'" Little said. "Without her being able to testify to that, we didn't have any evidence to go forward."

He said prosecutors tried to set a hearing sooner so that the woman could testify, but she was unable to participate due to her failing health. 

— Emiley Morgan

Twitter: DNewsCrimeTeam