Attorneys in Oakhill case ask for dismissal of indictment

CLEVELAND

Attorneys for Youngstown Mayor John A. McNally and ex-Mahoning County Auditor Michael V. Sciortino are asking a judge to dismiss the criminal-corruption indictment against their clients, contending Cuyahoga County is the improper venue to hear the case.

“A trial in Cuyahoga County would deny these defendants the substantive right, guaranteed by the Ohio Constitution, to a jury drawn and selected from the county in which the offenses are said to have occurred,” wrote Lynn A. Maro, who represents McNally, and John B. Juhasz, who represents Sciortino, in a Friday motion seeking to dismiss the indictment.

The two Democrats, along with attorney Martin Yavorcik, were indicted May 14, 2014, by a Cuyahoga County grand jury on 83 counts including engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity, conspiracy, bribery, perjury and money laundering. The three have pleaded not guilty.

Prosecutors contend the three were part of a criminal enterprise that illegally — and unsuccessfully — tried to impede or stop the move of the Mahoning County Department of Job and Family Services from the Cafaro Co.-owned Garland Plaza to Oakhill Renaissance Place, the former Forum Health Southside Medical Center.

The enterprise also wanted to get Yavorcik elected prosecutor — he unsuccessfully ran for the office in 2008 as an independent — to make a criminal investigation into the matter go away, prosecutors allege.

The indictment contends the purported criminal activities occurred in Mahoning, Cuyahoga, Trumbull, Geauga and Franklin counties. Most of the charges stem from alleged criminal acts in Mahoning County.

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