Judge rejects speedy trial motion

CLEVELAND — The judge overseeing the Oakhill Renaissance Place criminal conspiracy case rejected a motion from the attorney for Martin Yavorcik, one of the three defendants, to dismiss the case claiming he hasn’t received a speedy trial.

In a journal entry, Judge Janet R. Burnside of Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court wrote that the request from Jennifer Scott, Yavorcik’s attorney, “does not provide the critical information upon which any speedy trial can be calculated.”

The judge listed a number of basic items not included in Scott’s request and corrected the attorney on when time starts to run on the 270 days in which a trial must start if the speed of it isn’t waived.

Scott had contended in a Monday motion that the case should be dismissed as there was an 855-day delay from the dismissal of the original indictment in July 2011 to the second indictment three months ago.

Attorneys for the two other defendants — Youngstown Mayor John A. McNally and Mahoning County Auditor Michael Sciortino, both Democrats — wrote in another motion that they would be filing paperwork to dismiss “certain counts in the indictment” because their clients also haven’t received speedy trials.

Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Timothy J. McGinty, who is prosecuting the case with the Ohio Attorney General’s Office, filed a motion regarding the number of days that have passed as it relates to speedy trials for the three defendants.

The motion states that no days have passed for Sciortino for a speedy trial, 13 have passed for McNally and 25 days for Yavorcik.

The 83-count indictment against the three, who say they are not guilty, accuses them of being involved in a conspiracy to impede the move of the county Department of Job and Family Services from the then-Cafaro-Co.-owned Garland Plaza on Youngstown’s East Side to Oakhill Renaissance Place, the former Forum Health Southside Medical Center.

For the complete story, read Friday’s Vindicator and Vindy.com