YOUNGSTOWN — Judge Anthony D’Apolito of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court has granted the county prosecutor’s office two weeks of additional time before convening a grand jury to issue indictments.

The judge also said the time period of the delay will not be counted for purposes of bringing defendants to trial within time limits in Ohio law and for the purposes of meeting the 60-day deadline to indict someone after his or her case is bound over to a grand jury.

Mike Yacovone, assistant county prosecutor, filed the request, listing 53 criminal cases pending before a Mahoning County grand jury that need more time because of social distancing requirements being imposed in Ohio and elsewhere because of the COVID-19 outbreak.

Because of the danger of having groups of 10 or more people congregating, a decision was made last week to halt the grand jury process, which involves about 10 grand jurors at a time, an assistant prosecutor, court reporter and witness meeting for testimony on criminal cases. Afterward, the grand jury decides whether to issue an indictment for alleged crimes.

Yacovone said he does intend to ask the judge for additional time after this week for continued delays regarding the grand jury process.

Among the pending cases is that of John W. Bruner III, 30, of Akron, charged with two counts of aggravated murder in the Feb. 29 shooting deaths of Sierra Morris, 25, and her father Leroy Morris, 58, of West Judson Avenue.

Bruner, who originally is from Warren, was bound over to the grand jury March 10, leaving prosecutors until sometime in early May before the state’s 60-day deadline expires to indict him.

Yacovone asked D’Apolito to suspend the deadline for such cases until April 2 for now, with the likelihood of asking for additional time again later.

Some of the 53 cases pending before the grand jury were bound over earlier than March 10, making the timeliness of those even more critical than the Bruner case.

PRECEDENCE

The motion cites an instance in 2007 in which a snowstorm in the Toledo area caused the Lucas County Courthouse to lose power and disrupt phone services and for a judge to delay a criminal case beyond the 270-day limit allowed to bring a defendant to trial.

An appeals court later upheld the court’s decision to delay the case because of the weather event.

Yacovone’s filing also cited the eruption of Mount St. Helens in Washington state in 1980 and the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on America as reasons criminal cases have been postponed in the past.

A judge in Summit County last week postponed a trial because of the COVID-19 pandemic, saying the trial would cause about 27 people to assemble for the case, even if the courtroom was closed to visitors, Yacovone’s filing noted.

Mahoning County’s five general division judges, as well as its probate and domestic court judges, last week suspended most criminal and civil trials for two weeks, through the end of this week.

Not having a grand jury hearing cases and issuing indictments gives certain defendants an opportunity to ask for a bond reduction and opportunity to leave jail until the health emergency ends, as one defendant did last week.

Attorney Mark Carfolo asked Judge John Durkin of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court to modify the bond for client Richard A. Lamp, 38, who has been in the Mahoning County jail almost 90 days after being indicted in January on aggravated robbery and five other charges.

Carfolo told the judge Lamp’s trial will not begin for at least 30 days “because of the national crisis, COVID-19 virus. While this is an unforseen circumstance, is not the fault of the defendant.”

Carfolo asked the judge to lower Lamp’s $200,000 bond so Lamp can “take care of necessary aspects of his life, including his wife and his mother, who is experiencing major medical problems.”

The judge has not ruled on the March 19 motion.

erunyan@tribtoday.com