Oakhill defendants want to force prosecutors to reveal deals

CLEVELAND — Attorneys for two defendants in the Oakhill Renaissance Place criminal-corruption case are asking the trial’s judge to require prosecutors to provide information about any potential deals it’s made with witnesses.

Attorneys for Youngstown Mayor John A. McNally and ex-Mahoning County Auditor Michael V. Sciortino, two of the three Oakhill defendants, wrote in a motion that prosecutors have failed to give them that information and the trial is less than four weeks away.

In a separate motion, the attorneys for McNally and Sciortino, both Democrats, want the case’s judge, Janet Burnside of Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court, to sanction prosecutors claiming they just received additional evidence in the past few weeks.

That evidence includes more than 2,000 pages of records, a video recording, and additional interview summaries, the court filing reads.

“This is not an 11th hour effort to delay the trial by the defense,” the attorneys wrote. “It is instead an effort to bar the government from using at trial items in the government’s possession for months or years, but which have been withheld until the 23rd hour.”

The case is scheduled to start Feb. 29.

The two, along with attorney Martin Yavorcik, face 53 criminal counts including engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity, conspiracy, bribery, perjury, money laundering and tampering with records. They’ve pleaded not guilty.

They’re accused of helping to impede or stop the relocation of a Mahoning County agency from a property owned by a Cafaro Co. subsidiary to the county-owned Oakhill Renaissance Place.

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