YOUNGSTOWN — Fired previous Mahoning County assistant prosecutor Martin Desmond and his lawyers are inquiring a checking out decide in Mahoning County Widespread Pleas Court to let them to problem once more county Prosecutor Paul Gains and various other legal professionals centered on testimony in a associated circumstance.Desmond’s group alleges Gains and many others in the prosecutor’s office have engaged in deceitful actions, created false statements and hid from the general public misconduct and felony habits.
When contacted previous week, Gains reported he and his chief assistant, Lynette Stratford, can not comment on pending litigation. Gains and his attorneys have a pair of weeks to file a reply quick to Desmond’s filing.
Gains testified at an Ohio Condition Personnel Board of Evaluate listening to last Oct that he fired Desmond since “I couldn’t believe in his judgment since it seemed he was observing crimes that just did not exist, and that troubled me deeply.” Gains stated that in the 24 many years Gains has been prosecutor, he experienced hardly ever fired an assistant prosecutor right before Desmond.
Desmond and Gains have been mired in civil litigation since Desmond sued Gains in 2017 more than the firing. Desmond also appealed his termination to the Ohio Point out Personnel Board of Evaluate. Each scenarios are pending.
On Feb. 16, Desmond submitted a motion in the popular pleas courtroom case asking that when going to Choose H.F. Underlied Jr. resumes the situation, he let Desmond to requestion Gains and Stratford on matters that arose in an Oct 2021 listening to in advance of the Ohio personnel review board. The typical pleas court situation was suspended by an appeal that was determined in Desmond’s favor in January.
The Desmond filing also asks Underlied to reopen the circumstance and hold a listening to to established a circumstance routine.
Desmond also asks Underlied to allow new questioning of an assistant prosecutor Desmond accuses of poor solicitation of donations for Gains’ 2012 election marketing campaign and two other lawyers Desmond accused of other improprieties.
The filing supplies a critique of testimony in the October staff critique board listening to and a transcript of the proceedings in arguing that the evaluate board testimony includes “new revelations” into the “real reason” Gains fired Desmond.
“…for nearly 5 years, (Gains and Stratford) have engaged in fraudulent and deceitful behavior, together with building many wrong statements below oath, all to test to hold hidden the rationale for Desmond’s termination,” the filing states.
“And (Gains and Stratford) have not just acted to stop the good reasons for Desmond’s termination from rising but have worked just as tricky to disguise from the community misconduct and legal actions by (Gains’) employees and good friends,” the Desmond filing states.
THE ALLEGATION
Desmond has alleged that Gains fired him in retaliation for generating a report less than the Ohio whistleblower’s statute.
The report Desmond built, according to his lawsuit, was telling Gains that a further assistant prosecutor, Dawn Cantalamessa, had illegally filed charges of tampering with proof and obstruction of justice towards Kalilo Robinson, a witness in a murder case, allegedly to intimidate Robinson into testifying. The expenses towards Robinson have been dismissed, but Robinson’s lawyer submitted a federal civil rights lawsuit more than the challenge. That match afterwards was dismissed.
At an April 2017 information convention, Gains reported he fired Desmond for violating workplace plan by speaking about a make a difference involving yet another assistant prosecutor’s (Cantalamessa) situation with persons exterior of the business office, like the lawyer who filed the civil rights lawsuit from Mahoning County.
But Desmond’s new submitting states that Gains testified before a Condition Personnel Board of Critique hearing officer in Oct for the initially time due to the fact Desmond filed his lawsuit that yet another cause Gains fired Desmond was due to the fact of items Assistant Ohio Lawyer Basic Dan Kasaris instructed Gains in the tumble of 2016 about opinions Desmond created to Kasaris.
Kasaris testified at the State Personnel Board of Critique listening to that Desmond explained to Kasaris in August or September 2016 that Desmond considered improprieties had been using position in the Mahoning County Prosecutor’s Workplace. Desmond alleged that an assistant prosecutor was improperly soliciting marketing campaign contributions from other attorneys. At the time, in 2012, Gains was operating for re-election in the major against lawyer Jay Macejko. Gains received the election.
Desmond’s new filing states that he was hardly ever mindful right up until the State Staff Board of Review hearing that the conversation among Kasaris and Gains took place, and Gains had never before the listening to said that the conversations amongst Desmond and Kasaris and Gains and Kasaris had been a cause for Gains firing Desmond.
SEEKS QUESTIONING
The filing asks the assistant prosecutor to be questioned in link to the alleged election misconduct and asks that two other attorneys be questioned in link to other alleged misconduct.
It also asks Underlied to make it possible for Desmond and his attorneys to dilemma Gains yet again — this time about Gains’ dialogue with Kasaris and what impression that dialogue had on Gains’ selection to fireplace Desmond.
The filing also asks that Stratford be questioned once more — this time on what she realized of Desmond’s desire to prosecute a local lawyer.
Throughout January 2021 depositions in the case prior to Underlied, Stratford testified she was not aware that Desmond was investigating the area legal professional, but throughout Oct 2021 testimony in the Condition Personnel Board of Evaluation situation, she testified she was informed of it.
When Desmond’s attorney, Subodh Chandra, asked Stratford at the board of evaluate hearing about the diverse testimony, Stratford replied, “The only point I could imagine of is that I must not have recalled it at that time, but I do recall it now.”
The board of assessment testimony was halted in the middle when a question arose as to whether a “gag order” issued by a federal choose prevented testimony on that subject from being listened to. Three times of testimony in the board of overview case are established to resume March 23 in Columbus. Condition Personnel Board of Critique hearings are open up to the public.
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