McNally didn't send evidence on Sturgeon

A tip led the bar association to the police report more than a year after the event.
By PATRICIA MEADE
VINDICATOR CRIME REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- In March 2003, evidence alleging a Boardman attorney solicited sex from a client was not turned over to the bar association as then-city Law Director John A. McNally IV said he would do.
In March 2003, The Vindicator obtained a police report in which a woman described a sex act in Edward F. Sturgeon's private office, then located downtown. He was also an assistant Mahoning County prosecutor at the time.
The newspaper did not publish the story because City Prosecutor Dionne M. Almasy said no criminal charge would be filed against Sturgeon. Although not criminal, the sex act presented an ethics concern for the lawyer with the Mahoning County Bar Association, she said then.
At the time, Almasy said she reviewed the situation with McNally, also a member of the bar's grievance committee, and his decision was to send the evidence -- copies of the police file -- with a cover letter to the bar.
McNally also told the newspaper then of his intention to forward the evidence to the bar. He says now that, as a member of the bar's grievance committee, he would not have confirmed to a reporter what he intended to do with the evidence.
McNally's stance
McNally, now a county commissioner, said over the weekend that he did not send the police evidence to the bar because the woman was told by the detective on the case that she could file a complaint with the bar.
McNally said he learned the woman picked up the necessary paperwork and his involvement ended there.
A reporter asked McNally if he thinks his involvement should have ended there. "I'm not going to answer that question at this time," he said.
McNally said he didn't check to see if the woman actually filed a complaint. He said individual complaints are not discussed by the bar's grievance committee until brought back to the committee by an investigator, and he wouldn't have known if Sturgeon was being investigated.
McNally said he has since learned the woman did not follow through and file a complaint with the bar in March 2003.
Almasy's perspective
Almasy, also contacted over the weekend, recalled that, in March 2003, the woman had been "waffling" about whether to file a complaint with the bar. Almasy said she wasn't certain at the time whether the woman would pursue it.
"That was all the more reason to let the bar know," the prosecutor said. "I thought there was an obligation to do that."
Almasy said the detective on the case gave copies of the woman's police file to McNally to forward to the bar in March 2003.
Almasy, since March 2003, has believed that McNally sent the evidence with a cover letter to the bar association. She didn't learn otherwise until told by a reporter this past week.
McNally says now that he was not obligated to tell Almasy that he didn't send the evidence to the bar association.
Grievance committee
Attorneys Ronald E. Slipski and David "Chip" Comstock Jr. -- two members of the bar's grievance committee who recently prosecuted Sturgeon for three misconduct charges -- confirmed last week that the bar did not receive the evidence in March 2003, as McNally told Almasy and The Vindicator he would do.
In fact, the lawyers said they were not aware of the evidence until a year later when another woman filed a complaint with the bar alleging Sturgeon wanted to trade sex for legal fees in March 2004.
Slipski said he obtained the evidence from the March 2003 event after receiving tips to check with the Youngstown Police Department.
"I found out by one common pleas judge who sent me to another common pleas judge," Slipski said. He said he then approached McNally, still law director in 2004, who was "100 percent cooperative, and I had everything within a week."
Reached Sunday at home, Slipski would neither confirm nor deny that an investigation would be launched to find out why the bar didn't receive the March 2003 evidence against Sturgeon until a year after the event.
Slipski said he could not comment at this time on whether McNally had an obligation to inform the bar association about the allegation against Sturgeon in March 2003.
"In general terms, any lawyer who has reason to believe that there has been a violation of the code of professional responsibility by either a lawyer or a judge is obligated to inform the appropriate authority," Slipski said. "That could be either a local certified grievance committee or disciplinary counsel."
Latest proceedings
Slipski said when he received the evidence in March 2004 from the March 2003 sex act, he immediately sought out the woman. He said that, had he known, he would have looked for her sooner.
Sturgeon, charged with misconduct, was prosecuted last week in an Akron court and admitted he lied under oath during a deposition. Before the disciplinary hearing, he admitted to the oral sex in March 2003 and to exposing himself to another client in June 2003 and faces suspension of his license. He denies the allegation that he wanted to trade sex for legal fees in 2004.
A member of the hearing panel told Sturgeon that he "dodged the bullet" because no charge was filed after the sex encounter in March 2003. The female panelist added that, because he dodged the bullet, he went on to expose himself to another client a few months later, in June 2003. She wondered why the panel should believe that he didn't try to trade sex for legal fees in March 2004.
Sturgeon, 53, of Boardman, has since resigned as an assistant county prosecutor.