43
Lone remaining Oakhill defendant Yavorcik has 14 on his witness list
CLEVELAND
Martin Yavorcik, the lone remaining defendant not to plead guilty in the Oakhill Renaissance Place criminal-corruption case, has scaled back the number of witnesses he plans to call from 31 to 14.
Yavorcik’s list includes ex-Mahoning County Treasurers John Reardon and Lisa Antonini, two of his close friends who both have been found guilty of criminal charges and are cooperating with law enforcement.
Also on the list are Mahoning County Prosecutor Paul J. Gains and two of his top assistants – Linette Stratford and Nicholas Modarelli – as well as Harry Strabala, a political consultant who secretly taped Yavorcik for the FBI.
Among those dropped from Yavorcik’s original list, filed Nov. 30, 2015, are: Anthony Cafaro Sr., J.J. Cafaro and Flora Cafaro as well as several current and former Mahoning County Board of Elections officials, and two Vindicator writers.
Court documents filed by prosecutors contend Anthony Cafaro Sr. is the head of the criminal enterprise to stop the county from moving an agency from Garland Plaza, owned by a subsidiary of his family-owned Cafaro Co., to Oakhill Renaissance Place, the former Forum Health Southside Medical Center. Cafaro hasn’t been charged.
The enterprise supposedly had Yavorcik run in 2008 for county prosecutor as an independent against Gains with the plan that when elected, Yavorcik would make the investigation go away. He lost by 38 percentage points.
Also off Yavorcik’s list are Youngstown Mayor John A. McNally and ex-county Auditor Michael V. Sciortino, his co-defendants who took plea deals Friday to settle their cases. As part of those deals, they’ve agreed to testify against Yavorcik.
Yavorcik, an attorney defending himself, has a final pretrial hearing March 10 in front of Judge Janet R. Burnside of Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court, who is overseeing the case.
He faces 12 felonies: one count each of engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity and conspiracy, three counts of bribery, four counts of money laundering, and two counts of tampering with records.
The trial is supposed to start March 14. It was delayed until then – it was to start this past Monday – because of the plea deals accepted by McNally and Sciortino.
In a separate filing, Yavorcik wrote that the exhibits he plans to use in his opening statements include screen shots of seven sections of the Ohio Revised Code, the Ohio Rules of Professional Conduct, and photos of himself and 13 others, and two buildings.