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Prosecutors in Oakhill case don’t object to request for more time
CLEVELAND
Prosecutors in the Oakhill Renaissance Place criminal-corruption case have no objection to a request from attorneys for two of the three defendants seeking more time to file motions objecting to Cuyahoga County as the trial venue.
Lynn A. Maro and John B. Juhasz — the attorneys for Youngstown Mayor John A. McNally and suspended Mahoning County Auditor Michael V. Sciortino, respectively — sought the extension primarily because they are defending attorney Scott Cochran in a federal criminal case that started Feb. 20 in Cleveland.
Cochran is charged with violating the Hobbs Act, which is extortion by the wrongful use of actual or threatened force, violence or fear; tampering with a witness, victim or informant; and making false statements to law enforcement.
Cochran 43, of Austintown; Neal Atway, 47, of Youngstown; and a store owner, Mohd Rawhneh, 54, of Boardman, were charged with trying to extort money from a defendant who was being represented by the attorneys.
Maro and Juhasz asked for an extension to April 3.
In their filing, the attorneys also said more time is needed to review evidence.
“We informed defense counsel that we were not going to object to their request to have more time to make their filings,” said Dan Tierney, spokesman for the Ohio Attorney General’s Office.
Late Friday, Christopher Schroeder, a Cuyahoga County assistant prosecutor, filed a notice with the court that prosecutors had no objection to the defendants’ request “to extend the deadline for filing any pretrial motions in this case to” April 3.
The AG and Cuyahoga County prosecutor are prosecuting the case against McNally and Sciortino, both Democrats, and attorney Martin Yavorcik, a failed 2008 independent candidate for Mahoning County prosecutor.
A pretrial hearing in the Oakhill case is set for March 20 in front of Judge Janet R. Burnside of Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court. There is a chance the judge may reschedule.
If the hearing occurs, “it’s certainly possible” the delay request “would be discussed,” Tierney said.
Monday was the deadline for defendants to file motions seeking a change of venue.
“Counsel cannot function for John McNally and Michael Sciortino at present because they are doing their best to function as counsel for Scott Cochran,” Maro and Juhasz wrote in identical motions filed electronically with the court Sunday. “All three men are in the fight of their lives. They all deserve the best their counsel can give them.”
Mark Lavelle, Yavorcik’s attorney, didn’t file any motion with the court by the deadline.
The indictment contends most of the alleged crimes occurred in Mahoning County, but some supposedly happened in Cuyahoga County.
Prosecutors contend only one element of a single offense is needed to have occurred in Cuyahoga County for it to be the appropriate venue for this case.
The three defendants are accused of 83 criminal counts including engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity, bribery, conspiracy, tampering with records, perjury and money laundering. The three have pleaded not guilty to the charges.
The indictment accuses them of illegally trying 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.