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A former Richmond jail inmate who says he was erroneously held for 4½ months after a judge dismissed charges against him is suing outgoing Sheriff C.T. Woody for $2.35 million.

“He was in jail nearly five months,” said Gary Hershner, the man’s lawyer. “He had opportunities to go out and work, and he couldn’t because he was in jail.”

The jail’s general counsel, Tony Pham, acknowledged the inmate was held after he should have been released, but said it isn’t the jail’s fault.

“The error of this person being held was not on the part of the Sheriff’s Office,” he said. “The records that we have ordered us to hold this person with no bond.”

Darrell Goode was arrested on charges of failure to appear in court last November in connection with allegations that he failed to pay $49,176 in child support.

He was brought before a Richmond Juvenile Domestic Relations District Court judge, who dismissed the charges, the suit alleges.

At that point, he should have been released, Goode and his lawyer say.