Conflict of interest prompts Lisotto to rescind order

YOUNGSTOWN -- Judge Robert Lisotto of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court has vacated an order he signed last week, which denied early release from prison for a Boardman man.
Instead, the judge said in the court document that he will ask for another common pleas judge to be assigned to decide the matter, or that the Ohio Supreme Court assign a visiting judge to handle it.
Judge Lisotto did not return several telephone calls seeking comment.
At issue was a motion filed by Atty. Don L. Hanni Jr. and his daughter, Atty. Heidi Hanni Wolff, seeking early release from prison for John F. Sylvester of Boardman. Sylvester is serving seven to 25 years in prison for attempted murder.
Before Judge Lisotto could rule on the motion, he was arrested and charged with drunken driving in Canfield last week. Don Hanni is representing him.
Judge Lisotto had said he would step aside from any cases pending in his court in which Hanni was involved to avoid a conflict of interest. But one day after he was in court with Hanni for the DUI charge, Judge Lisotto signed the order denying Sylvester's early release.
Hanni said last week that he would ask that Judge Lisotto vacate the order and step aside because of their attorney-client relationship.