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Grand jury extension ordered by judge
By PETER H. MILLIKEN
YOUNGSTOWN
Special prosecutors investigating potential conflict of interest in Mahoning County’s purchase of Oakhill Renaissance Place need more time.
Following the investigators’ request, Judge James C. Evans of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court issued an order Wednesday extending the grand jury beyond its previously scheduled April 29 termination.
He did not put a time limit on the extension.
A person familiar with the investigation told The Vindicator, however, that felony charges are being presented to the grand jury for its consideration.
A new grand jury will convene May 6 to hear new routine local criminal cases, while the extended grand jury will hear evidence only from the special prosecutors, said Judge Maureen A. Sweeney, who will become the grand jury judge May 1.
Special prosecutors Paul M. Nick, chief investigative counsel with the Ohio Ethics Commission, and Dennis P. Will, Lorain County prosecutor, estimated in their motion for an extension that they need no longer than six additional weeks to present their evidence.
“The reason for the requested extension is to allow for continuity in the presentation of evidence to one grand jury,” the special prosecutors wrote.
Shortly after they were appointed on Nov. 17, 2008, Will and Nick said both of their offices suffered budget cuts that affected staffing levels and their ability to complete their tasks as special prosecutors.
Once their presentation of evidence to this grand jury began, limited time was available for scheduling of their appearances, they said. The special prosecutors said they are still receiving information they subpoenaed.
“It is imperative that, in order to ensure due process to any individuals involved in this matter, that the same grand jury consider all pertinent information,” Will and Nick wrote.
Will and Nick cited a 2003 11th District Court of Appeals decision saying a grand jury can be kept in session for up to nine months if prosecutors offer a good reason for the extension.
Will and Nick have presented evidence to the grand jury on five known occasions since February, most recently last Thursday.
The county bought Oakhill in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in 2006 and moved its Department of Job and Family Services there the following year. Oakhill is the former Forum Health Southside Medical Center.
Central to the Oak- hill matter is opposition to the purchase expressed by county Commissioner John A. McNally IV, the sole dissenting commissioner; county Auditor Michael V. Sciortino; and then county Treasurer John B. Reardon.
McNally, Sciortino and Reardon said they opposed the purchase because of uncertain costs of buying, operating and maintaining the complex.
The three met with Anthony M. Cafaro Sr., then president of the Cafaro Co., in Cafaro’s office the day the county bought Oak-hill.
Cafaro, the landlord for the county’s Department of Job and Family Services in Garland Plaza on the city’s East Side, unsuccessfully sued the county in an attempt to rescind the Oakhill purchase.