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Cleveland jury mulls Youngstown lawyers’ fate
CLEVELAND
A jury has been deliberating the fate of two Youngstown lawyers in federal court at the end of a monthlong trial before Chief U.S. District Judge Solomon Oliver Jr.
The defendants, Attys. Neal Atway and Scott Cochran, who are partners in a downtown Youngstown law office bearing their names, testified in their own defense against charges of extortion and obstructing justice before the jury began deliberating Friday morning.
Jury deliberations will resume Monday morning.
Atway, 47, of Youngstown, and Cochran, 43, of Austintown, could spend the rest of their lives in prison if they’re convicted.
Cochran is a former Mahoning County Bar Association president.
Atway and Cochran are charged with two counts each of violating the Hobbs Act — extortion by wrongful use of actual or threatened force, violence or fear.
They also face two counts each of conspiring to tamper with a witness, victim or informant; and one count each of lying to FBI agents investigating this case.
A co-defendant, Mohd Rawhneh, 54, of Boardman, a convenience- store owner, pleaded guilty last May to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and awaits sentencing.
Atway and Cochran are accused of trying to extort money for Rawhneh from another convenience- store owner, Charles B. Muth, 42, of Canfield, a defendant in criminal cases who was being represented by Atway and Cochran.
Muth was having a business dispute with Rawhneh.
The indictment alleges Rawhneh and Atway led Muth to believe that, unless Rawhneh got money and property from Muth and Muth’s stores, Rawhneh would appear at Muth’s sentencings and tell the judges facts that could result in harsher sentences for Muth.
Rawhneh and Muth testified for the government in the extortion and obstructing-justice case.
In an earlier federal case, Muth got five months in prison for growing marijuana in his home.
In a state case, Muth got 18 months in prison on charges of ethnic intimidation and aggravated assault for his role in a Dec. 28, 2011, shooting at the Boardman home of Rawhneh’s ex-wife, in which nobody was hurt.
In that shooting, Muth’s friend, Donald K. Loveless, 40, of Hopkins Road, got three years in prison on a charge of improperly discharging a gun at or into a habitation.