Family members of Ryan Lanzo, left, thank Mahoning County assistant prosecutors Mike Yacovone and Rob Andrews in July 2021 after Michael Malvasi II of Canfield was sentenced to 12 years in prison in common pleas court for killing Lanzo in a crash and leaving the scene.

YOUNGSTOWN — Mahoning County Prosecutor Paul Gains says his office produced its first-ever annual report for 2021 to “ensure transparency,” and he plans to publish them each year.

Gains gave remarks at the front of the 19-page report, but Gina DeGenova, Gains’ chief assistant, said last week she gathered the statistics and did much of the leg work.

She said after Gains added the job of public information officer to her job description one year ago, she started “looking at what other prosecutors’ offices do across the country. I wanted to take the best ideas from the offices I saw.” One thing she found was that many prosecutors published an annual report.

“I thought that would be a nice way for us to chronicle what we do throughout any given year and let the public see our report card. Here’s what we’ve done this year. These are the issues we handled,” she said.

YEAR OF ACTIVITY

The document, which was released last week, contains statistics and pie charts related to criminal cases, appeals court cases, and juvenile and civil matters handled in 2021. For example, the office handled 12 jury trials in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court and got guilty verdicts in all 12 of them. There also were eight trials before a judge without a jury. Six ended in conviction, and two resulted in not-guilty verdicts.

The prosecutor’s office “opened” 875 cases through grand juries in common pleas court and resolved 916 cases in 2021 through plea or trial. The prosecutor’s office “opens” cases through a grand jury and through such other means as probation violations, DeGenova said.

Of the 916 cases resolved, 577 resulted in conviction. Another 118 defendants entered a diversion program. Seventy defendants saw their charges dismissed, and 27 cases did not go forward because the grand jury refused to indict. In 56 cases, the prosecutor’s office declined to prosecute.

DeGenova also provided statistics for 2019 and 2020 that showed that COVID-19 had an impact on the number of cases handled in 2020 and 2021.

In 2019, before COVID-19 began, prosecutors opened 1,119 cases through grand juries and other means and resolved 1,111 cases through pleas, trials and other similar methods.

In 2020, prosecutors opened 814 cases through grand juries and other means and resolved 873 cases. The number was no doubt lower because of COVID-19, DeGenova said. For one thing, grand juries did not meet for about two months in the spring of 2020 because of Ohio’s COVID-19 lockdown that required all but essential workers remain at home.

In 2021, the number of cases handled increased but did not return to pre-COVID levels. “It’s climbing back up again,” DeGenova said of case numbers.

Regarding the number of people allowed to be diverted from prison into treatment, Gains said he supports “the belief that treatment is often a more productive option to punishment to achieve justice and provide safety to citizens.”

Such programs can result in the person not having a criminal conviction if he or she successfully completes a treatment program. “These programs help those suffering from mental health and addiction disorders,” Gains stated.

The prosecutor’s office has four employees working with victims and witnesses of crime. “Our four victim coordinators make thousands of contacts with victims and witnesses of crime each year (5,689 in 2021), helping them cope with everything from the loss of a loved one to documenting and applying for restitution,” Gains said.

Of the 70 cases that were dismissed in 2021, 14 were because the defendant died. An additional 19 were because the person was indicted federally for the same offense. In eight cases, charges were dismissed because the victim and / or witness refused to cooperate with prosecutors.

The prosecutor’s office screened criminal cases involving 210 juveniles in 2021 and filed complaints against 198 of them in Mahoning County Juvenile Court. No statistics were available for earlier years, DeGenova said.

BIG CASES

The report listed four “notable criminal cases” from 2021.

The list includes Michael Malvasi II, 30, of Canfield, who was convicted at trial of aggravated vehicular homicide and other offenses for crashing a car in Canfield in 2017 and leaving the scene on foot without calling 911 and going home. He left passenger Ryan Lanzo, 23, still at the scene. He later returned in another car, loaded Lanzo into it and drove him to Malvasi’s house, where Malvasi’s father, Michael Sr., drove Lanzo to an Austintown clinic, where Lanzo was pronounced dead.

Michael Malvasi II was sentenced to 12 years in prison.

Gains also listed the Anthony Consiglio case that resulted in the 26-year-old Youngstown man getting 19 1/2 to 25 years in prison for raping his elderly relative. He was convicted during a trial without a jury before Judge R. Scott Krichbaum.

The first of two murder cases Gains listed was that of Francis “Jerry” Rydarowicz, 50, formerly of Hubbard, who was sentenced to 15 years to life in prison for killing his wife, Katherine, in 2019 at the King’s Motel in Coitsville Township. A jury found Rydarowicz guilty.

Gains also listed the aggravated murder case of Traeshaun Turner, 27, who received 25 years to life in prison for shooting Ishmael Bethel, 25, to death and shooting a young girl in the arm Sept. 8, 2020, near the Southern Tavern on Glenwood Avenue in Youngstown.

The prosecutor’s office also handles appeals involving Mahoning County criminal cases. In 2021, there were 59 appeals in the 7th District Court of Appeals and Ohio Supreme Court. The prosecutor’s office filed 53 merit briefs, which are the primary filing in an appeal. It also made oral arguments in 26 cases and also replied to 19 court requests by convicts to have their convictions reversed.

LEGAL SERVICES

The report states that the prosecutor’s office “continues to excel” in its lesser-known role in providing legal services to the county commissioners and other county offices, plus all of the boards of township trustees in the county and government bodies such as at the board of elections and county children services board.

In 2021, civil division prosecutors drafted and or reviewed 1,129 contracts and handled 2,668 legal matters such as providing legal advice to government agencies, writing legal opinions and filing foreclosure complaints.

In 2021, prosecutors in the civil division attended 651 hearings on matters in Mahoning County Juvenile Court involving the abuse, neglect or dependency of children.

In 2020, the prosecutor’s office drafted or reviewed 1,184 contracts and handled 2,187 civil matters involving legal advice to government bodies. DeGenova said the lower number of civil matters handled might be related to the lower number of foreclosures filed in 2020 because of the pandemic.

The civil division filed 535 foreclosure complaints on behalf of the Mahoning County treasurer and Mahoning County Land Bank in 2021.

The prosecutor’s office also gave legal advice to the county commissioners on using American Rescue Plan funds the commissioners received. This enabled the commissioners to award more than $20 million in ARP funds to local businesses and public entities in 2021.

The report is available at prosecutor.mahoningcountyoh.gov and on Facebook and Twitter.

erunyan@vindy.com