YOUNGSTOWN — Witnesses testified for several hours Thursday that Struthers Judge Dominic Leone III behaved in not only a vulgar way toward and about Struthers Mayor Catherine Cercone Miller at the Struthers City Building starting in January, but his actions were cause for concern.

It eventually led Miller to seek a protection order May 3 after Leone lost the primary election the day before and knew he would be leaving the bench at the end of this year.

Visiting Judge H.F. Inderlied, who was assigned by the Ohio Supreme Court, said he would rule later on whether to approve the protection order.

Bailiff Cheryl Host testified that she approached Miller in January, after finding that Leone’s remarks in areas of the building where Host interacted with Leone were “getting a little too much.” The remarks were not said where Miller could hear them.

Host said she feared for Miller’s safety, and that Leone’s behavior became worse over the months.

Asked by Miller’s attorney, Lynn Maro, to describe Leone’s behavior, Host said Leone was “very loud, screaming, and it was embarrassing.”

“When (Leone) would say things, I did not want to be around it,” Host said. None of the remarks involved threats of physical violence, but Host was concerned because it “escalated. It would just get more and more and more.” She said it would “get more angry, more loud, just how he was acting, like (Miller) was a target.”

She said the loud remarks were in the office area, but they could be heard by other people. Leone would start to yell about Miller if he saw her or if someone mentioned her name, Host said.

Host raised the issue with Leone, saying, “We need to be little more positive,” Host said. She approached Miller three to four times to express her concerns. Host was “upset” and “mad” about it, she said.

It’s been more than a month since the last time Host brought up Leone’s behavior because he has not been at the courthouse for about that amount of time.

‘JUST KEPT SCREAMING’

During questioning of Host by attorney Peter Pattakos, who represents Leone, Host said she did not know how many times she heard Leone make “outbursts” about Miller, but it was “multiple, multiple times.” It was “bad” about the time Miller started supporting Leone’s opponent, common pleas court magistrate James Melone, in the May 2 primary.

She said Leone would call Miller “(three expletives).” She said Leone “was just screaming, and we were in the middle of the court, and he just kept screaming it, and I just went over to the clerk’s office.” She said a detective heard the remarks one day.

When Pattakos asked if she could remember any other ways Leone talked about Miller, she said “wanting to target her, like to ruin her.”

The Struthers clerk of courts, Amsi Medina, testified that after one “alarming” outburst by the judge, he spoke to Leone about it and told him to “calm down,” and Leone “calmed down a little bit.”

Medina said he remembered one time when he was talking to Leone about the election, and Leone said, “If I lose, we’re all going down together, and he was mainly talking about the mayor,” Medina said. He clarified that he thought Leone meant Miller “a little bit” “going down” politically and physically.

He added: “You can feel the anger” and “from the judge towards the mayor.”

Under questioning by Pattakos, Medina recalled that Leone described Miller in the same vulgar terms Host described.

ONCE FRIENDLY

Miller testified, saying she and Leone were friends at Struthers High School and she worked for him when he was Struthers law director, and he was “calm.” He was close with her kids and watched them play sports.

She became mayor in January 2020 and earned accolades, but Leone made some controversial moves. She said she and Leone got along as mayor and judge well enough until January of this year when they clashed over budgeting / financial issues with the court. Leone “became much more aggressive, much more vocal and very abrasive,” she said.

Within the last few months, she feared for her safety, partly because about 40 people came to her to tell what Leone was saying. She decided to seek a protection order against Leone after the election, mostly because of the way he treated her Election Day at a polling place in Struthers. She is up for re-election this year but had no challenger in the primary. She spends the day at the polls “for whatever is on the ballot,” she said.

About 20 times after he arrived, he would step between her and someone trying to talk to her, resulting in Miller walking away, she said.

Later, someone said something about not getting “rowdy,” and Leone told Miller from a couple of feet away, “We can get rowdy. Let’s get rowdy. We can get rowdy right now if you want to.” Miller said she backed away.

She said there was “fire behind his eyes,” and he took a posture with fists and arms pulled up “in a rage.” She reported her concerns to the county board of elections twice that day. A deputy came out and stayed from 3 p.m. until the polls closed.

Leone lives on the street behind her and a few houses down, she said. Her husband does not let her go anywhere by herself, she said. She has lost 29 pounds because of the stress, she said.

Her office is in the city building where the courts and Leone’s offices are located. She frequently would call to find out if Leone was at the city building that day and avoided going there if he was. She said she personally heard Leone’s outbursts in the city building three or four times, but she never filed a police report.

She also would check security cameras before leaving her office to avoid him, she said.

Leone did not call any witnesses.

In closing arguments, Pattakos said that even if all of the things the witnesses said were true, “it does not come close to eclipsing the First Amendment protections for political speech at issue.”

Maro said all of the witnesses said “they were afraid” of Leone. “They were afraid of escalating conduct. They were afraid of the escalating language. They were afraid of his demeanor. They were worried it was going to explode and spill over into something more. That is what the civil stalking protection order is designed to prevent.”

erunyan@vindy.com