YOUNGSTOWN — In filings by attorneys for the city of Youngstown and the attorney for former Youngstown Police Lt. Brian Flynn, Law Director Jeff Limbian said any matters related to whether internal affairs documents were used in the criminal case filed against Flynn should be decided at trial.

Flynn’s attorney, Paul Siegferth Jr., filed a motion in Youngstown Municipal Court asking Visiting Judge Mark Frost to review whether city prosecutors intend to use any internal affairs information as evidence of the 14 charges of misdemeanor dereliction of duty against Flynn.

Seigferth also asked that criminal charges against Flynn be dismissed. The judge has not yet ruled on the matter. Flynn’s case has no trial date.

The charges accuse Flynn of negligently failing to perform his job in criminal cases or proceedings from Nov. 11, 2020, to Feb. 11, 2021, while serving as the head of the Family Investigative Services Unit.

Limbian has said the Ohio Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force had repeatedly referred cases to Flynn and Flynn was “either summarily deleting them or just ignoring them, and he was directing officers in his unit to do the same.” Limbian said there were “at least 24 cases that went directly to Brian Flynn.”

Siegferth has stated that information from the internal-affairs investigation that eventually led to Flynn being fired by the department cannot be used against Flynn at trial. Limbian said in his recent filing that he agreed with Siegferth’s request for Frost to rule that such information cannot be used at trial, but Limbian denied that charges should be dismissed because of the existence of internal-affairs documents as part of the files an investigator saw.

Limbian noted that Detective Brian Breeden of the Summit County Sheriff’s Office, who investigated the allegations of dereliction of duty, testified at a May 4 hearing that he did not use such information as part of his investigation because he knew it could not be used as evidence in a criminal case.

Limbian’s filing asked that the judge deny a motion to dismiss charges against Flynn, saying it would be “premature” to conclude that such information has been used in the criminal case.

Breeden received copies of emails containing information regarding internal-affairs matters, but it is “speculative” that any such information is being used in the prosecution of Flynn, Limbian stated.

Meanwhile, Seigferth filed a longer brief on the same topic, arguing that the city prosecutor’s office failed to prove at the May 4 hearing that no information from the internal affairs investigation was used in the criminal investigation of Flynn.

“During the … hearing, the state did not deny using all of the defendant’s (internal-affairs) testimony against him,” Siegferth’s filing stated.

It noted that Lt. Brian Butler of the police department’s internal affairs office testified at the hearing that he conducted a thorough internal affairs investigation and later turned over a binder on the investigation to the city law department. He testified that the binder was “with the law department several months,” the filing states.

“At no time did the state deny having the binder or offer any testimony as to precautions or methods used to insulate this material from anyone who may have been involved in future criminal investigation or decision to file criminal charges,” the Siegferth filing states.

Limbian “had access to the internal affairs binder in that (Flynn) was subject to administrative discipline overseen by Mr. Limbian,” the Siegferth filing added.

Among the correspondence that was provided to Breeden were emails between Flynn and his union representative, Siegferth noted. Such material being part of the (evidence) in a criminal case is “unprecedented,” Siegferth alleged. Siegferth recounted that Breeden testified that he “recognized or thought maybe three of the emails looked familiar from his investigation, but he did not recognize the balance.”

“The state has so much tainted … (internal-affairs) material, they cannot deny any use of the material for trial preparation and in deciding to file criminal charges,” Siegferth concluded.