Cafaro seeks more time to file motions

Oakhill secrecy hearing

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The Vindicator and 21 WFMJ-TV argued that filings in the Oakhill Renaissance criminal conspiracy case should be made available to the public at a special hearing in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court Monday, Dec. 6, 2010. To avoid pretrial publicity he said might bias potential jurors, visiting Judge William Wolff Jr. ordered in September that all nonroutine documents in the case be filed under seal so he can screen them before making all or parts of them public.

By Peter H. Milliken

milliken@vindy.com

YOUNGSTOWN

Lawyers for the Cafaro interests say they need more time to finish filing pretrial motions in the Oakhill Renaissance Place criminal conspiracy case.

That’s because the special prosecutors have been tardy in filing bills of particulars and in delivering all evidence to the defendants’ lawyers, the Cafaro attorneys said in a written motion filed Friday and made public Tuesday.

The Cafaro lawyers want the deadline for their pre-trial motions extended from Jan. 3 to 90 days after the prosecutors provide all bills of particulars and evidence to the defense. The case is set for trial June 6.

In the initial closed-door, in-chambers, pre-trial conference on Sept. 9, the special prosecutors told visiting Judge William H. Wolff Jr. that bills of particulars containing details of the charges would be filed within two weeks, the Cafaro lawyers said.

As of Friday, however, bills of particulars had been filed only for Flora Cafaro and Atty, Martin Yavorcik, whose bill has been made public; and for former Mahoning County Job and Family Services Director John Zachariah; former county Treasurer John B. Reardon; and county Auditor Michael V. Sciortino.

The bills for Zachariah, Reardon and Sciortino, filed between Nov. 3 and Dec. 1, are still under seal.

Since Sept. 9, the prosecutors have delivered to the defense more than 56,000 pages of documents.

The Cafaro lawyers complained, however, “The manner in which the documents were furnished constituted, literally, an electronic document dump,” forcing the defense lawyers to laboriously organize documents the prosecutors had two years “to review, organize and digest.”

There are still “gaping deficiencies in the material and information the state is required to produce,” the Cafaro lawyers said.

The Cafaro lawyers said FBI documents don’t comply with state evidence discovery rules because they were heavily edited; notes from investigators’ interviews with witnesses haven’t been produced; and correspondence, e-mails, text messages and investigative memoranda still haven’t been produced by the prosecutors.

In the 73-count Oak- hill indictment issued July 28, five people and three companies are charged with conspiring criminally to impede the move of JFS from Cafaro Co.-owned rented quarters to Oakhill.

Facing conspiracy and other charges are Anthony M. Cafaro, former president of the Cafaro Co.; the Cafaro Co. and its affiliates, the Ohio Valley Mall Co. and the Marion Plaza Inc.; county Commissioner John A. McNally IV, Sciortino, Reardon and Zachariah.

Flora Cafaro, part owner of the Cafaro Co., and sister of Anthony Cafaro, and Yavorcik are charged only with one count of money laundering and not with conspiracy.

One of the special prosecutors, Paul M. Nick, chief investigative counsel for the Ohio Ethics Commission, said the delays in filing the bills of particulars have resulted from the voluminous motions filed by the defense lawyers, which have necessitated responses from the prosecutors.

As for the 56,000 pages of evidence, Nick said the defense lawyers agreed to the format for it in the Sept. 9 pre-trial conference. “We’ve organized it probably better than most attorneys,” Nick said.

“We will respond in writing in time,” to the defense motion for the extension, Nick said.