OAKHILL TRIAL | Prosecution has 28 witnesses against Yavorcik

CLEVELAND - Prosecutors have 28 people on their witness list to testify against Martin Yavorcik, a failed 2008 Mahoning County prosecutor and the lone defendant in the Oakhill Renaissance Place corruption trial not to plead guilty.

The list is reduced from the 53 potential witnesses prosecutors filed when the case had two other defendants - Youngstown Mayor John A. McNally and ex-Mahoning County Auditor Michael V. Sciortino.

The trial started today with jury selection though that is slow going. It will continue Tuesday.

Judge Janet R. Burnside of Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court, who is overseeing the case, said she expects the trial to be finished by the end of next week, possibly stretching into a third week.

Those on the prosecutors' witness list expected to be key to the case include former Mahoning County Democratic Party Chairwoman Lisa Antonini, a former county treasurer; Sciortino; ex-county Treasurer John Reardon; political consultant Harry Strabala, an FBI informant who secretly taped Yavorcik and others; and FBI special agents Deane Hassman and Wallace Sines.

Others on the prosecutors' list are McNally; Bruce Zoldan, a prominent Mahoning Valley businessman; J.J. Cafaro, a retired executive with his family-owned retail property business; two Cafaro Co. attorneys and two company employees; county Commissioner Anthony Traficanti; and county Prosecutor Paul J. Gains.

Potential jurors gave a variety of reasons as to why they wanted to be excused from hearing the case.

But most said they could make the time commitment.

There were 40 potential jurors originally called with Judge Burnside dismissing nine of them.

Of those excused during questions about their availability, one is a college student and another is wheelchair-bound unable to get daily transportation to the courthouse. Others had business commitments and one is moving to Florida.

There were six others on the fence including a man who said he's "not very sociable" and didn't want to be around people, and another who said he wouldn't pay attention to the case. But they weren't excused.

Seven more jurors were called, but a majority were excused before attorneys questioned them. The judge also excused some from the original pool upon further questioning.

Overall, 18 were excused leaving 29 potential jurors. The judge spent almost two hours talking to the potential jurors about court procedures and asking other questions to allow attorneys to get to know them. The judge says she will end today's proceedings at 4:15 p.m.

Attorneys will get to question the potential jurors Tuesday.

None of the 47 potential jurors said they'd ever heard of Yavorcik, this case, any of the prosecutors or Hassman, who investigated this and other public corruption cases in the Mahoning Valley. Hassman is sitting at the prosecutors' table.

Yavorcik, an attorney defending himself, is the last of the Oakhill Renaissance Place conspiracy defendants to not plead guilty.

His two co-defendants - McNally and Sciortino, both Democrats - took deals Feb. 26 before the start of the trial.

Yavorcik faces 11 felonies: one count of engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity, one count of conspiracy, three counts of bribery, four counts of money laundering, and two counts of tampering with records.

Prosecutors contend Yavorcik is part of a criminal conspiracy that illegally tried to stop or impede the relocation of the Mahoning County Job and Family Services Department from Garland Plaza, owned by a Cafaro Co. subsidiary, to Oakhill Renaissance Place, the former Forum Health Southside Medical Center owned by the county.

Yavorcik had nothing to do with trying to stop that move.

Prosecutors contend members of the criminal enterprise - including McNally; Sciortino; Antonini; Anthony Cafaro Sr., the former head of his family-owned Cafaro Co. retail property development business; and Cafaro's sister, Flora, a company executive - illegally gave money to Yavorcik.

In exchange, prosecutors say Yavorcik ran as an independent in 2008 for Mahoning County prosecutor so that if he won, he wouldn't prosecute or investigate anyone in the criminal enterprise. He lost by 38 percentage points to incumbent Democrat Paul J. Gains. Prosecutors also accuse Yavorcik of filing false campaign finance reports.