MAHONING COUNTY Ruling favors local attorney

Some court documents were unsealed after the newspaper filed a motion.
By PATRICIA MEADE
VINDICATOR CRIME REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- A federal judge has ruled that the government engaged in "vexatious and bad faith conduct" against Boardman attorney Lynn Sfara Bruno after her indictment was dismissed and must pay some of her legal fees.
U.S. District Judge Kathleen M. O'Malley has ordered the government to pay the cost of 10 court filings and one court hearing that involved Sfara Bruno's Cleveland lawyers the past two years. One of Sfara Bruno's lawyers, Patrick M. McLaughlin, said Wednesday that the cost of the fees has not been calculated.
"Hopefully, this ends, if possible, the nightmarish ordeal I have endured," Sfara Bruno, 44, said Wednesday in a press release prepared by her lawyers. "I pray that no individual has to face what I did."
Sfara Bruno's two-count indictment, handed up Sept. 12, 2001, charged extortion and conspiracy to commit extortion.
About the case
She had been accused of giving former Mahoning County Prosecutor James A. Philomena cash, gifts and campaign contributions between January 1991 and December 1996 as payment for directing an assistant prosecutor to reduce or dismiss DUI charges for her clients. Philomena, now in prison, provided the government with information about Sfara Bruno.
The government has said that Philomena's recollection of a September 1996 DUI wavered after he spoke to Sfara Bruno's lawyers, though he still maintained that she had paid him several times to fix other DUIs. With the 1996 case in doubt, the government had no other cases in her indictment that met the five-year statute of limitations and dismissed the indictment in November 2001.
Sfara Bruno then attempted to recoup $73,161 she said she spent in legal fees and other expenses gearing up for trial. Her lawyers said actions by the FBI and federal prosecutors were "vexatious, frivolous and/or in bad faith."
Sfara Bruno's attempt for the money failed, with Judge O'Malley saying that, at the time of the indictment, the government had substantial evidence suggesting that she had engaged in case-fixing.
The fees Sfara Bruno can collect now were incurred after The Vindicator reported in January 2002 the contents of a 77-page brief the government filed that challenged her attempt to collect the $73,161.
Explanation
Among other things in the brief, Thomas J. Gruscinski, an assistant U.S. attorney, said Sfara Bruno "utterly ignores the fact that she is still the subject of a valid, ongoing criminal tax investigation. She has not been vindicated." In essence, the government laid out that while Sfara Bruno may have been off the hook on allegations of fixing DUIs, she failed to tell the IRS how much money clients really paid her for the cases.
Judge O'Malley's order, obtained Wednesday by The Vindicator with portions redacted, concluded that the government acted improperly when it faxed its lengthy response brief to the newspaper but mailed it to Sfara Bruno's lawyers. Portions of the brief contained information that should have been under seal, the judge said.
After contents of the government's brief were published, all future filings were placed under seal at Judge O'Malley's order. The Vindicator filed a motion asking that the documents be unsealed. Judge O'Malley has since unsealed some, but not all, filings.
Comment on conduct
Sfara Bruno's lawyers characterized the government's conduct in releasing the 77-page filing two years ago as "aberrant acts which are not indicative of the manner in which such matters are handled by the U.S. Department of Justice."
The lawyers pointed out that Judge O'Malley was deeply disturbed by the government's behavior.
U.S. Attorney Greg White said Wednesday that he doesn't condone what happened. The action taken by the assistant U.S. attorney -- faxing the government brief to The Vindicator with items that should have been under seal -- were not proper and the matter has been referred to the U.S. Department of Justice Office of Professional Responsibility, he said.
meade@vindy.com