Defense lawyers in Oakhill case want judge to disallow some state exhibits at trial

CLEVELAND — Attorneys for Youngstown Mayor John A. McNally and ex-Mahoning County Auditor Michael V. Sciortino filed 15 motions asking the judge overseeing the Oakhill Renaissance Place criminal-corruption trial to not permit prosecutors to use certain exhibits as evidence in the upcoming trial.

The attorneys for two of the three defendants also filed a motion asking the judge to extend the deadline to file pretrial motions regarding a key witness, Youngstown political consultant Harry Strabala, whose secret recordings are part of the prosecutors’ evidence. The filing didn’t include a length of the requested extension.

“The defendants may wish to file challenges to evidence based” upon “possible violations of Department of Justice guidelines, and possible violations of state law,” they wrote.

All 16 of the motions were filed today by Lynn Maro and John B. Juhasz, the attorneys for McNally and Sciortino, respectively.

The attorneys wrote that they needed the extension because they didn’t learn until this weekend that Strabala – called CHS1 [Confidential Human Source] in the filing – “is not someone who was working for the FBI to avoid prosecution or punishment.”

Instead, they wrote that he “is and has been a paid informant working for the FBI.”

“Under no time has Harry Strabala been investigated by the FBI,” said Todd Werth, supervisory special agent at the FBI’s Boardman office. “He’s never been a subject of any of our cases.”

For the complete story, read Tuesday's Vindicator and Vindy.com