MVSD CASE State questions witness list for DeJute case

The witness list includes a sheriff, county prosecutor, county auditor, judge, commissioner and two mayors.
By DAVID SKOLNICK
VINDICATOR POLITICS WRITER
WARREN -- The Ohio Attorney General's Office wants to know why the witness list for Frank D. DeJute, whom the agency is suing for $2.4 million, includes several Trumbull County politicians.
The interest is so great that the office sought to have DeJute, a former director of the Mahoning Valley Sanitary District, give a second deposition to explain his witness list. He gave a deposition in this case about two years ago. DeJute, of Niles, is not a lawyer but is defending himself.
"We wanted to probe into why Mr. DeJute has called some of the people he has on his list of witnesses," said Joe Case, a spokesman for the attorney general. "We wanted to ask about some of those people, because from what we've seen, some of these witnesses have no role or relevance to the case."
Doesn't have to: But visiting Judge Richard Markus, who is overseeing DeJute's case, ruled Monday during a teleconference that DeJute is under no obligation to give a second deposition because it would be the equivalent of a lawyer's turning over his work to the other side.
"It's no different than trying to depose a lawyer to find out what he's going to do at trial,'" DeJute said.
DeJute is declining to discuss the reasons for placing various witnesses on his list. The list includes Trumbull County Sheriff Thomas Altiere, county Commissioner Joseph Angelo, county Prosecutor Dennis Watkins, county Auditor David Hines, Judge W. Wyatt McKay of common pleas court, Warren Mayor Hank Angelo and Niles Mayor Ralph A. Infante Jr.
"They're totally confused," DeJute said of the attorney general's office. "They want to know what I'm doing, and I'm not saying." The judge also said during the teleconference that if the witnesses on his list do not provide relevant testimony, they will be dismissed from testifying during the trial, according to DeJute.
"We'll have to live with this decision for now," Case said. "We were just trying to figure out why some of these people were being called. We're not seeing the relevance of some of the names on the list."
DeJute's trial is set to begin Dec. 17, but there is a possibility of a postponement. DeJute said Judge Markus is handling a trial in Lancaster that should be done by Dec. 17, but if it is not, his trial would be delayed.
The attorney general's office filed separate $2.4 million lawsuits against DeJute; Edward A. Flask of Poland, another former MVSD director; and the Gilbane Building Co. of Rhode Island, which served as construction manager on the water agency's $50 million capital improvement program.
Lawsuit details: The lawsuits contend Flask and DeJute improperly paid Gilbane for construction work it never performed at the MVSD. A federal judge dismissed the Gilbane case in October. Flask filed for bankruptcy in October, three days before his trial was to begin, forcing it to be postponed.
DeJute has asked Judge Markus to dismiss his case based on the federal judge's decision in the Gilbane lawsuit. The judge has not made a decision on that request.
Also, DeJute requested that Thomas Moyer, an Ohio Supreme Court justice, remove Judge Markus from the case. That request was denied because it had to be filed as an affidavit with the Supreme Court's clerk and not with the chief justice. DeJute said he will probably file the affidavit.
skolnick@vindy.com