As lawyers for the ten defendants in the Oakhill Renaissance purchasing probe prepare their cases, questions are now being raised over the actions of some on the grand jury that handed up the indictments back in August.
In court Thursday morning, lawyers claim a member, using the internet name "ytownredux", made routine postings of grand jury activity on the web. Atty. Martin Weinberg, one of the lawyers representing developer Anthony Cafaro, Sr., called the evidence "incontrovertable" that the juror "was the source of all of the web postings and facebook postings" about the case.
In another instance, Weinberg said a different grand juror reportedly sent an anonymous letter to editors with the Youngstown Vindicator.
Defense lawyers claim both incidents represent serious breaches of the oath grand jurors take to keep all they hear behind closed doors secret. They urged visiting Judge William Wolff to order an investigation to see what else might have been leaked, asking him to appoint someone with no ties to the Oakhill investigation.
Lawyer John McCaffrey, who represents Flora Cafaro suggested "there are a number of other county prosecutor's offices, or sheriff's departments, or even BCI or the Attorney General's office" that could handle the matter.
The indictment charges both members of the Cafaro mall development family and their company, along with a number of current or former county officer holders, with conspiring to keep Mahoning County from buying Oakhill back in 2006.
In court Thursday, prosecutors admit there have been problems.
Special Prosecutor David Muhek of Lorain County told the judge, "We have an unfortunate and problematic expression of an opinion by a grand juror."
Still, Muhek tried to downplay the seriousness of it, calling it "much ado about nothing."
The judge did interview each of the grand jurors in private Thursday afternoon, but we still don't know how he will proceed and if any of this will impact the trial set for next June.
