Judicial panel calls for penalty

It is not known when the state Supreme Court will rule.
By PEGGY SINKOVICH
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
WARREN -- A state board recommends that an assistant Trumbull County prosecutor be suspended from practicing law for six months, with the stipulation that the suspension will not be enforced unless he commits other violations.
The Ohio Supreme Court's Board of Commissioners on Grievances and Discipline issued an eight-page report Friday saying Thomas Wrenn violated two rules of the code of professional responsibility -- concealing or knowingly failing to disclose information and failing to tell the defendant the existence of evidence that may negate guilt -- in a sex case.
The panel consisted of Judge Jack R. Puffenberger of Lucas County Probate Court in Toledo, Judge William R. Baird of the 9th District Court of Appeals in Akron and Atty. Stanley Chesley of Cincinnati.
Split decision
The majority of the three-member panel also found that Wrenn is not guilty of engaging in conduct prejudicial to the administration of justice.
Judge Baird disagreed, saying Wrenn's representations to a judge and opposing counsel that DNA test results were not known was a misrepresentation.
Wrenn, 61, declined to comment on the findings.
The recommendation also states that two judges sent very positive character letters about Wrenn and several people "testified to his high character and reputation."
It will be up to the Ohio Supreme Court to either follow the recommendations of the panel or to render a different opinion.
It is not known when the court will rule.
Wrenn could face suspension of his law license, state officials said.
Complaint
The Supreme Court's disciplinary counsel filed a formal complaint of ethical misconduct against Wrenn, saying he withheld results of a DNA test in a 1999 Trumbull County case and told a judge and defense attorney the results were not available.
Attys. Lori Brown and Jonathan E. Coughlan of the disciplinary counsel said Detective Jane Timko of the county sheriff's department told Wrenn in October 1999 that DNA testing revealed that semen found on the shirt of a 12-year-old boy in a sex case was the boy's, not the defendant's.
Timko testified during Wrenn's disciplinary hearing in March that she remembered telling Wrenn sometime before Oct. 12, 1999, and then put a copy of the report on his desk a few days later. Timko said Wrenn was on vacation when she provided the written report.
Atty. Charles Richards, who represented Wrenn, said his client never got the written copy.
Brown said Wrenn did not share the information even after he found out that defense attorney Philip M. Vigorito was planning to have his client, Leonard Derr, plead guilty to one charge.
In a plea agreement, Derr, of Sharon, pleaded guilty to an amended indictment of one count of gross sexual imposition. He was sentenced to three years in prison.
Derr was a youth baseball coach and the boy was a member of his team.
sinkovich@vindy.com