Longtime assistanct Mahoning County prosecutor fired

YOUNGSTOWN

Mahoning County Prosecutor Paul J. Gains has fired his longtime assistant criminal prosecutor, Martin P. Desmond, effective today, after having placed him on paid administrative leave March 23.

Gains announced the dismissal in a news conference this afternoon and informed Desmond in a one-sentence letter.

“He had discussions concerning a case that he was not involved with, with others outside the office. That’s a violation of my policy,” Gains said, adding he could no longer trust Desmond.

Gains explained that Desmond was initially assigned and later removed from that homicide case at Desmond’s request in August 2015, before those discussions with outsiders occurred.

Another issue was research on civil law Desmond performed using a county legal research account.

“He denied doing the research. Westlaw records show he did it,” Gains said, referring to the research Desmond did on Dec. 16 concerning the civil law claims that appeared in a federal lawsuit filed against the county that same day. Westlaw is a computer tool used in legal research. The research was performed on the county’s Westlaw account, Gains said.

Read more about the situation in Thursday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.