Prosecutor Gains responsible for the mistakes of his office

A suggestion for the staffers of the Mahoning County prosecutor’s office as they begin thinking about a Christmas gift for their boss, Paul Gains: Buy him a desk sign that reads, “The Buck Stops Here.” The gift will not only send a message to Gains that the assistant prosecutors and secretaries are tired of being thrown under the bus by him, but it will remind the prosecutor that he’s ultimately responsible for what goes on in the office.

The ease with which he points the finger of blame at his underlings has been an issue for many years. But despite our criticism of his management style, he continues to bob and weave.

Last week, murder charges against two men were dropped because assistant prosecutors failed to disclose a key piece of evidence to defense lawyers, resulting in the loss of a key witness. That prompted the dismissal of charges against Alan Johnson, 24, and Marcel Roberson, 29, both of Youngstown. They were accused of murdering 38-year-old Kevin Hart, also of Youngstown, who was found in his car in December 2009, shot multiple times in the back.

Gains said that charges could be refiled if more witnesses were found.

It’s bad enough that the prosecutor’s office dropped the ball, but Gains has made matters worse by using the worn-out excuse of staffing shortages. He has been complaining ever since the commissioners refused to give in to his demand for a 60 percent increase over last year’s allocation. The commissioners ultimately cut his budget, but not as much as they could have cut. Nonetheless, Gains still gave pay raises to his staff. That’s why his complaining about the office being short handed doesn’t engender any sympathy with the taxpayers.

He has argued that two secretaries are being forced to serve 13 lawyers.

What the prosecutor has failed to understand is that public doesn’t want to hear excuses. Doing more with less has become standard operating procedure in the private sector, and Gov. John Kasich, for one, believes it should become the rule in government.

Missed deadline

Five and a half years ago, we took Gains to task for a massive mistake made by his office when it missed an important deadline for oral arguments before the Ohio Supreme Court.

He blamed “a procedural defect, all based on a typographical error” for the mistake in the case of John Drummond Jr. of Youngstown, who was sentenced to death in February 2004 after being convicted of killing 3-month-old Jiyen C. Dent Jr. The foul-up caused a firestorm in the community, but Gains refused to take responsibility. He blamed the appellate lawyer in his office.

Nonetheless, he won re-election in 2008, and will be on the ballot again next year.

But, given last week’s dismissal of murder charges against two men because of an error by the prosecutor’s office, and a stumble in the case of Rachel Zorger of Canfield, charged with vehicular homicide, the voters of Mahoning County may not be so understanding in 2012.

The prosecutor must figure out how to use his staff as efficiently as possible and become more of a hands-on manager. Finally, he needs to understand that the buck stops with him.