Oakhill hearing scheduled for Dec. 6

Arguments to include public access to filings

Photo

Visiting Mahoning County Common Pleas Court Judge William H. Wolff Jr. from Kettering

By John W. Goodwin Jr.

jgoodwin@vindy.com

YOUNGSTOWN

The court is set to hear arguments on a litany of motions in the criminal-conspiracy case involving Mahoning County’s purchase of Oakhill Renaissance Place, including motions made by The Vindicator to make the proceedings available to the public.

Judge William H. Wolff Jr., visiting judge from Kettering who is handling the Oakhill case, ordered that motions in the case will be heard at 9 a.m. Dec. 6 in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court.

The order says arguments will be heard on the Anthony M. Cafaro Sr. and Flora Cafaro defendants’ motion to temporarily seal all bills of particulars and notices of intent until after trial, the Cafaro defendants’ motion to dismiss the indictment and the motion of The Vindicator and 21 WFMJ-TV to undo the Sept. 9 and Sept. 14 sealing orders and permit public access to bills of particulars and motion-to-dismiss indictment.

Several motions and filings have been made in the case, but those motions were filed under seal, meaning they are not available for public view. To avoid pretrial publicity that might bias potential trial jurors, Judge Wolff ordered all nonroutine filings in this case be made under seal so he can screen them before making all or parts of them public.

Atty. Marion Little, representing the media companies, said he hopes the court, during the Dec. 6 hearing, vacates its earlier decision and allows the public full access to documents associated with the case. He said the media and public should have been given an opportunity to be heard before a decision was made to seal the documents.

“We are sort of doing this in reverse order because you would normally have that hearing before sealing,” said Little. “This hearing will give us an opportunity to demonstrate why these proceedings should not be cloaked in secrecy.”

The court on Tuesday released one filing that previously had been sealed: The released motion was made by former JFS Director John Zachariah, who asked to join a previous motion made by defendants to seal all filings in the case.

A Mahoning County grand jury returned a 73-count indictment in the Oakhill case July 28. Five people and three companies are charged with conspiring to impede the move of the county’s Department of Job and Family Services from Cafaro Co.-owned rented quarters to Oakhill.

Oakhill is the former Forum Health Southside Medical Center, which the county bought in 2006. The JFS was moved there in 2007.

The defendants charged with conspiracy and other charges are Cafaro, Zachariah, county Commissioner John A. McNally IV, county Auditor Michael V. Sciortino and former county Treasurer John B. Reardon.

Two other defendants indicted in the case are not charged with conspiracy. They are Flora Cafaro and Atty. Martin Yavorcik, who are charged only with money laundering in connection with an allegedly concealed $15,000 gift she gave to Yavorcik’s unsuccessful 2008 campaign for county prosecutor.

Companies mentioned in the indictment are The Cafaro Co. and its affiliates, the Ohio Valley Mall Co. and the Marion Plaza Inc.

The trial is set to begin June 6, 2011.