Oakhill pretrial hearing will go on as scheduled Thursday

CLEVELAND — A judge overseeing a political corruption case has denied a request from Mahoning County Auditor Michael Sciortino’s attorney to postpone Thursday’s first pretrial hearing.

Sciortino, Youngstown Mayor John A. McNally and attorney Martin Yavorcik were indicted May 14 on 83 total criminal charges — including engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity, conspiracy, bribery, money laundering and tampering with records.

An official in the office of Judge Janet R. Burnside of Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court said today that the hearing will start at 9 a.m. Thursday as scheduled.

John Juhasz, who represents Sciortino, requested the postponement because he is representing Aubrey Toney in a capital murder case in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court.

Juhasz can handle the pretrial matters by telephone, the judge’s official said.

Lynn Maro, who represents McNally, will not travel to Cleveland and will participate in the hearing by phone.

Jennifer Scott, Yavorcik’s attorney, said she as well as lawyers from the Ohio Attorney General’s Office and the Cuyahoga County Prosecutor’s Office — which are prosecuting these cases — will meet in chambers with the judge.

“Usually not a whole lot happens at the first pretrial,” Scott said.

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