YAVORCIK TRIAL | In his closing, Yavorcik says he did not commit a crime

CLEVELAND — In his closing arguments, Martin Yavorcik, a failed 2008 Mahoning County prosecutor candidate, said politics is "a dirty, nasty business," but he didn't commit a crime.

Facing 10 felonies, Yavorcik said during his 45-minute statement that he ran a campaign in 2008 and "not a conspiracy."

But Matthew E. Meyer, a Cuyahoga County assistant prosecutor, said during his closing that Yavorcik was "a bought and paid for man by one of the richest people in Ohio to get rid of an investigation."

Meyer said the rich person in question is Anthony Cafaro Sr., the former president of his family-owned Cafaro Co. One criminal count of bribery against Yavorcik accuses him of taking $135,500 from Cafaro and his brother, J.J., and his sister, Flora.

Prosecutors contend Cafaro along with a group of Mahoning County public officials illegally tried to stop or impede the county from purchasing Oakhill Renaissance Place, a former hospital, and relocate a county department to Oakhill in 2006 from a building owned by a Cafaro subsidiary.

"That's Youngstown politics," Meyer said.

That group of public officials helping Yavorcik's independent campaign in 2008 while under investigation related to Oakhill, are: then county Commissioner John A. McNally, now Youngstown mayor; then Auditor Michael V. Sciortino, who lost a re-election bid in 2014; then Treasurer Lisa Antonini, who was also the county Democratic Party chairwoman; and former Treasurer John Reardon, all Democrats.

Prosecutors contend Yavorcik ran for prosecutor to kill the Oakhill investigation in exchange for money and support. Yavorcik said he ran because he wanted to be prosecutor and thought Paul J. Gains, the incumbent Democrat, was "evil, vindictive" and needed "to go."

Yavorcik was "the last man to turn out the lights; the cleanup crew," said Meyer during his 40-minute closing statements.

Gains, who initiated the Oakhill investigation in 2007, beat Yavorcik by 38 percentage points.

Meyer said Cafaro was "the string-puller," and called him "Mr. Big" seven times during his closing statements.

"Tony is behind the whole thing," Meyer said.

Cafaro hasn't been charged. But Deane Hassman, an FBI special agent, said Wednesday that Cafaro is "still under investigation."

The jury will start deliberating Thursday.

Earlier in the day, the judge in the Martin Yavorcik trial rejected his arguments to dismiss the indictment against him and rejected his efforts to individually drop all but one of the 11 felony counts he faces.

Also, Yavorcik, an attorney defending himself, didn't call any witnesses.

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

Prosecutors said today that they dropped a money laundering charge that accused Yavorcik of improperly taking money for his 2008 campaign from McNally.

McNally is Yavorcik's co-defendant who took a plea deal Feb. 26 to plead guilty to four misdemeanors. McNally is to be sentenced Monday.

While Judge Janet R. Burnside of Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court, who is overseeing the trial, said Yavorcik made a "legitimate argument" about his alleged involvement in a conspiracy, there is "some credible evidence" to that charge.

The judge's decisions came after a hearing that lasted for nearly 2 1/2 hours without the jury present.

Prosecutors spent five-and-a-half days and had 26 witnesses testify on their behalf. They concluded their case Tuesday.

No witness testified in this trial that Yavorcik ever directly said he would stop the investigation if elected prosecutor. But some said it was understood that would happen. There's also a secretly recorded tape in which Yavorcik said he agreed to take care of his friends under investigation related to Oakhill.