Oakhill defendant asks judge to dismiss case

CLEVELAND — The attorney for Martin Yavorcik, one of the three defendants in the Oakhill Renaissance Place criminal conspiracy case, is asking a judge to dismiss charges against his client claiming the court doesn’t have jurisdiction over the matter and the indictment violates state law and the U.S. Constitution.

In a 15-page filing, Mark Lavelle, Yavorcik’s attorney, wrote the Ohio Elections Commission has “exclusive initial jurisdiction of alleged election law violations.” He specifically points to Title 35 of the Ohio Revised Code that “lays out the requirements of candidates and their campaign committees to record and report all campaign-related contributions and expenditures.”

Prosecutors have said Yavorcik’s charges go well beyond Title 35 violations.

Yavorcik, a failed independent candidate for Mahoning County prosecutor in 2008, faces 27 felony counts — 17 counts of tampering with records, four counts of money laundering, three counts of bribery, two counts of conspiracy, and one count of engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity.

The Ohio Elections Commission found Yavorcik committed a violation in June 2011, but didn’t fine him or refer the matter for further prosecution. That came after a complaint was filed with the Mahoning County Board of Elections.

The elections board also filed a complaint with the state commission in March 2014 contending Yavorcik’s reports are incomplete.

Yavorcik, Youngstown Mayor John A. McNally and Mahoning County Auditor Michael Sciortino, the latter two are Democrats, face an 83-count indictment accusing them of being involved in a conspiracy to impede the move of the 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.

In his motion to dismiss, Lavelle said there were two factions in 2008 in the Mahoning County Democratic Party arguing over the purchase of Oakhill, and that’s what led Yavorcik to run against incumbent county Prosecutor Paul J. Gains.

Lavelle wrote that Yavorcik was put on retainer by the Cafaro Co. for “ongoing and potential future legal issues involving the business matters of a Cafaro family member.” Yavorcik received a $15,000 retainer check, which he deposited and then wrote a $15,000 check to his campaign for a poll, Lavelle wrote. A previous indictment says that money came from Flora Cafaro, a Cafaro Co. executive.

Yavorcik failed to report the $15,000 as income on his 2008 tax returns, but subsequently amended the returns and “corrected the error,” Lavelle wrote.