Republican Party calls for O'Toole's resignation

May 6—The executive committee of the Ashtabula County Republican Party has unanimously called for Republican Ashtabula County Prosecutor Colleen O'Toole's resignation, according to a resolution provided to the Star Beacon.

The resolution, passed on Thursday, cites a variety of reasons for the decision.

The first reason in the resolution is indifference for crime victims. It claims there have been multiple violations of Marsy's Law by the prosecutor's office. Marsy's Law is an amendment to the Ohio Constitution which, among other aspects, requires that victims be given notice of public proceedings of criminal cases upon request, be given a chance to be heard in any public proceeding involving the release, plea, sentencing, disposition or parole, and be allowed to confer with an attorney for the government upon request.

The resolution claims victims of crime in the county have not been consulted regarding plea deals for defendants in their cases.

"Victims call the courthouse complex to complain they were never consulted on plea deals," the resolution states.

The resolution cites the plea deal offered to Joshua Gurto, significantly reduced the rape and murder charges he was facing. Judge Marianne Sezon hosted a hearing on the matter, and sought to question relatives of the victim — 13-month-old Sereniti Jazzlynn-Sky Sutley — in the case about the deal.

The resolution cites Sezon's decision to reject the plea deal, which stated that there was a "disconnect" between what prosecutors said about the victims and police understood about the plea deal, and what those people said at the hearing.

The ongoing re-sentencing of Odraye Jones is also mentioned in the resolution.

Jones was convicted of the 1997 murder of Ashtabula Police Officer William D. Glover Jr., and was initially sentenced to death, but the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals has ordered a new sentencing hearing.

According to the resolution, Marianne Glover Waldman, Glover's widow, had a disagreement with O'Toole at a late February status conference, and at a subsequent hearing, an assistant prosecutor sat near Glover Waldman and her husband.

That assistant prosecutor, Christopher Fortunato, had a verbal dispute with Glover Waldman and her husband, ordering them to leave the court.

Glover Waldman testified about the interaction in a hearing.

"Personally, I take this as intimidation because of what happened at the last hearing when we were here, and I had a discussion with Ms. O'Toole after the hearing and it did not go very well," she said, according to the resolution.

"We are sickened, angered, and repulsed by the intimidation and retaliation against the Waldmans," the resolution states. "O'Toole and her minion should be deeply ashamed, but we suspect their hubris prevents shame. No Crime victim should be exposed to the aggressive incompetence of the Ashtabula County Prosecutor's Office."

The Prosecutor's Office also has a fractured relationship with county law enforcement agencies, according to the resolution.

The resolution claims that in one case, evidence obtained by law enforcement was not submitted at trial, and the defendant in that case was found not guilty of almost every charge brought against him, and in another, prosecutors lost an audio recording of a defendant confessing to a crime.

The resolution also claims O'Toole loudly called Sheriff William Niemi "fraudulent and corrupt" within earshot of staff and visitors in early 2023, and never apologized or explained her accusations.

Niemi declined to comment on this story.

The next issue raised by the resolution is that O'Toole has picked unnecessary fights with public officials, including county judges, and has created conflicts of interest with her clients.

"Ohio law clearly restricts her to giving legal advice upon request," the resolution states. "However, she routinely steps out of the scope of her job and inserts herself into policy matters. Not only is such conduct outside of the scope of her duties, but she has created bad blood with county officials."

In support of the claim, the resolution cites an issue between O'Toole and the county commissioners, where O'Toole sought to have bathrooms in the Prosecutor's Civil Building renovated.

County Administrator Janet Discher rejected the request, according to the resolution, but work was conducted anyway.

"Once the commissioners learned of the outside work crew, they issued a stop work order that was hand delivered by the county administrator to the prosecutor's staff and then delivered to the contractors directly for a second time," according to the resolution.

It states O'Toole sent Commissioner Casey Kozlowski a text message demanding Discher be placed on administrative leave.

"Clearly implicit in this statement was the threat of criminal prosecution," according to the resolution. "Kozlowski refused to reply, as a lawyer's threat of criminal prosecution to obtain an advantage in a civil dispute is unethical."

The resolution claims O'Toole brought contractors back into the building over a weekend to have the work completed.

O'Toole's conflicts with county judges are also discussed in the resolution, including claims of O'Toole and members of her staff failing to follow a variety of local rules, making public, disparaging statements about court backlogs, making disparaging comments about the judges, withdrawing from specialized dockets, attempting to fire a court employee, and delaying legal reviews of court matters.

The resolution also takes issue with O'Toole's hiring practices.

According to the resolution, O'Toole sought to have an attorney work as a special prosecutor while currently acting as a defense attorney on other cases, a violation of legal rules.

The resolution also takes issue with O'Toole's hiring of attorneys Matthew Ameer and Fortunato.

It states that Ameer was twice thrown out of courtrooms in the county for unprofessional conduct, including using profanities toward defense counsel at trial. Ameer also has a pair of OVIs, according to the resolution and court records, one from Medina in 2006, and one from Pennsylvania in 2022. Ameer resigned in December 2022.

In addition to the incident with the Waldmans, the resolution claims Fortunato insulted Ashtabula County Public Defender Margaret Brunarski in open court.

"We can only conclude that O'Toole either tolerates or is completely comfortable with a lack of professionalism by her lawyers," the resolution states.

O'Toole's jurisprudence is also discussed in the resolution.

The resolution cites a June 30, 2021 Zoom meeting where O'Toole is alleged to have said, "police officers are the real criminals in Ashtabula County," and also states she called members of the county's Drug Task Force "extortionists" in the same meeting.

It claims O'Toole adheres to the concept of restorative justice.

"Restorative justice adherents do not believe in arrest, trial and imprisonment," the resolution states.

The resolution mentions generous plea bargains made by O'Toole's office.

The resolution also claims that O'Toole does not live in Ashtabula County.

"She is rarely seen in our community, and is not invested in our community," the resolution states.

The resolution calls for O'Toole's immediate resignation, and disassociates her from the party. The resolution also calls for the party's oversight committee to convene and review and possibly commence action to remove O'Toole from office.

O'Toole was endorsed by the Ashtabula County Republican Party when she first ran for prosecutor in 2020. She defeated fellow Republican attorneys Malcolm Stewart Douglas and David Per Due for the GOP nomination for prosecutor, and bested then-Ashtabula County Prosecutor Cecilia Cooper to claim the seat.

O'Toole released a statement on Friday night responding to the resolution.

"The request for my resignation is a backroom-political attempt to influence my office from prosecuting or questioning the actions of elected officials, law enforcement, and anyone else, regardless of political party," she said in an email. "When bad guys and criminals try to bully me or my office, it won't work. When backroom politicians try to bully me, It won't work either. I was elected as your prosecutor to be independent of the 'good old boys' network.' It has been the goal of my office to be firm but fair regardless of a persons party, wealth, or position. I am not here to curry favor with politicians. I categorically deny every allegation in the resolution. I was not able to speak and was not notified of the meeting agenda."

O'Toole said she and her staff follow the ethical standards established by the Ohio Supreme Court.

"My office is dedicated to upholding the Constitution and prosecuting cases to the fullest extent of the law," she said. "My team will continue to keep Ashtabula County safe, respect victims, comply with Marcys law as well as hold public officials accountable for malfeasance, waste, and corruption for the duration of my term. We work hard.

"Two years ago, I ran on the Trump ticket and was endorsed as a true conservative of this party. Since being elected 20 months ago, I have not miraculously embraced George Soros! This is the kind of thing that hard-left Democrats do to Donald Trump. Come on, people it's laughable."