Although attorney Lynn Maro was not in court for the arraignment of her client, she said County Commissioner John McNally was targeted for standing up against the purchase of Oakhill Renaissance Place.
"These investigators in this case repeatedly said to other attorneys when they asked 'what did our clients do wrong? They went against the official position of the government,'" Maro said. "I'm sorry, that's what our elected officials are supposed to do."
Neither McNally or any of the other six people charged in the corruption case appeared in court for their arraignments. All waived their rights and entered written pleas of "not guilty" with Judge Maureen Sweeney of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court.
Besides McNally, Auditor Mike Sciortino, former Treasurer John Reardon and former Job and Family Services Director John Zachariah are accused of working with developer Anthony Cafaro Sr. to keep JFS from moving out of the Cafaro-owned McGuffy Mall and into Oakhill. Cafaro's sister Flora and attorney Martin Yavorcik, who unsuccessfully tried to unseat county Prosecutor Paul Gains, are charged with money laundering in the case.
"Listen, this is politics and nothing more," Maro said.
Months before special prosecutors were ever brought into the investigation, Maro said Gains and County Administrator George Tablack went to the Youngstown Vindicator with what she calls a "timeline" of their complaints against McNally and the others.
"Quite frankly that timeline isn't accurate," Maro said. "It has distortions and it doesn't accurately reflect some of the facts."
Maro argues investigators never tried getting her client's side of the story. She said the prosecutors are operating on some "misconceptions and some inaccurate facts that we would have loved the opportunity to clear-up."
The defendants are expected to show up at the county jail tomorrow for booking, and will then be released. Their first pre-trial hearings are scheduled for 1:30 p.m. Friday, when the special prosecutors brought in to handle this case would be expected to turn over the alleged evidence they have to the defense, along with a list of potential witnesses.
