Work request is denied

Annette Giancola wants to work in the same hospital where she was treated.
By BOB JACKSON
VINDICATOR COURTHOUSE REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- It's not that Annette Giancola went too far in trying to get a job, just that she'd have to go too far if she got the job she wanted.
That's why a judge denied the former Canfield Township woman's request to go to work near Cleveland.
"This court has grave concerns about the distance she would have to travel," said Judge Maureen A. Sweeney of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court.
The judge said she will reconsider her decision if Giancola gets a job in or near Mahoning County, or if she moves closer to the Cleveland area.
Giancola, 44, drowned her 3-year-old twins, Jonathan and Rebecca, in the bathtub of their home in 1997. She was found innocent by reason of insanity and was confined to a psychiatric hospital until May, when she was allowed to return to Mahoning County.
She lives at a group home where medical staff can monitor her condition and ensure that she takes medication required to control her mental condition.
Offered her a job
Giancola's attorney, Scott Cochran, said she had done part-time clerical and secretarial work at Northcoast Behavioral Health System while she was a patient there. When Giancola was released from the hospital in May, her former supervisor offered her a job doing the same type of work.
Cochran filed a request with the court that Giancola be allowed to take the job as a condition of her release from the hospital. A hearing on the request was Tuesday.
Assistant Prosecutor Robert Andrews did not object to the request, but said he was concerned about the amount of unsupervised time Giancola would spend driving back and forth to work.
Cochran said officials at the group home and at Northcoast have said they would call each other when Giancola left one place so the other would know when she should be arriving, and her whereabouts could be monitored that way.
He also said Northcoast would be a good place for Giancola to work because staff there could monitor her condition and take action if symptoms of her mental illness reappear. He said she needs to live in Mahoning County for now to be near her mother, who has health problems.
Since her release from the hospital, Giancola has been paying for her treatment and health care, Cochran said. He said she needs income to continue paying those costs on her own. Otherwise, she will have to turn to public assistance.
But Judge Sweeney said she believes Cleveland is too far for Giancola to be driving, and denied the request. Giancola lowered her head but showed no other reaction to the ruling.
bjackson@vindy.com