COLUMBUS Panel to have hearing on Hanni

Final disposition of the case isn't expected before the end of the year.
By BOB JACKSON
VINDICATOR COURTHOUSE REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- A disciplinary hearing was to be today in Columbus for Atty. Don L. Hanni Jr., who is accused of unethical conduct.
Hanni, of Youngstown, is a longtime area defense attorney and former chairman of the Mahoning County Democratic Party.
The Ohio Supreme Court disciplinary counsel lodged a complaint against him in August 2000, outlining what it says were three cases of attorney misconduct. Hanni has denied the claims.
If the charges are proved, punishment could range from a public reprimand to permanent disbarment. Disciplinary counsel Jonathan Coughlan declined to say what the state would recommend at the hearing.
Neither Hanni nor his lawyer, John Shultz, could be reached to comment.
Coughlan said a report from the disciplinary panel that hears the matter today probably won't be received until summer. The report will be forwarded to the court justices, who have the final say in punishment, which probably won't happen before the end of the year.
The claims: The first allegation against Hanni is that he had a conflict of interest when he represented a man in a 1999 criminal case while knowing that the FBI said the man had tried to extort money from another of Hanni's clients four years earlier.
The second complaint is that Hanni agreed to represent a woman seeking compensation for her husband's smoking-related death but never delivered the work. The complaint also says he failed to return several personal papers the woman says she gave Hanni to prepare for the lawsuit.
The final complaint is that Hanni instructed a woman to lie under oath for her husband in a federal court case.