Disorder in the court: O'Toole withdraws request for funds after being ordered to testify

Jun. 30—JEFFERSON — Ashtabula County Prosecutor Colleen O'Toole declined to testify at a Thursday morning hearing regarding a pair of requests from her office for more funding.

The three Ashtabula County Court of Common Pleas judges hosted a hearing on a pair of requests submitted to the court by O'Toole's office, one for $10,000 for the creation of a website for victims services, and another for funding for a new special investigator position.

A motion for the Ashtabula County Board of Commissioners to intervene in the matter was granted by the judges.

Near the end of the hearing, O'Toole was called to testify by Todd Hicks, one of two attorneys representing the commissioners.

O'Toole said she was unable to be called as a witness because she cannot be both a witness and an attorney in a case.

Before Hicks called O'Toole, she entered a number of documents into evidence which included an affidavit from the prosecutor herself.

Hicks argued that by submitting the affidavit, O'Toole waived her right not to testify.

"She submitted her testimony to this court, and to not allow us to examine her would be unfair and prejudicial," he said.

O'Toole offered to withdraw her affidavit in order to not have to testify.

The judges spoke privately for a short time before ruling that O'Toole had already submitted her affidavit into evidence and that it could not be withdrawn.

Judge Thomas Harris ordered her to take the stand.

O'Toole asked for a chance to consult with counsel.

"You have one on each side of you," Harris said, referring to O'Toole's assistant prosecutors seated on either side of her.

She reiterated her request for counsel.

"I will not be testifying or be called as a witness for fear of ethical conflict or prosecution," she said.

Harris cited a May 26 order from the judges, which ordered O'Toole to appear before the court and provide testimony and exhibits in support of her applications.

"You've been on notice since May 26, 2023, that you were going to be testifying," Harris said.

Hicks then called O'Toole as a witness.

O'Toole again requested legal counsel.

"There is no one here who is prepared, and I would like time to consult with counsel," she said. "I would like also to choose a counsel of my choosing that would specialize in ethics law, none of whom my folks have at all."

"The judges have just decided we're overruling your objection, so take the stand," Harris said.

"Your honor, I'm not going to take the stand," O'Toole said. "Please proceed."

"You've been ordered to take the stand and you've been ordered to be placed under oath, the judges have ruled," Harris said. "You filed this motion, you brought it before this court, we didn't go looking for this hearing."

O'Toole took the stand and was placed under oath.

She called the situation outrageous.

"And just to let everyone know, the folks in the back of the courtroom are the Republican Party," O'Toole said.

She called the hearing a political sham.

"It was your motion, counsel," Judge David Schroeder said.

Harris noted that attendees at the hearing included multiple members of O'Toole's staff, along with a pair of commissioners who could not fit at the table with their attorneys.

Hicks asked O'Toole if she recently asked the commissioners for funds for office renovations and furniture.

"I am sticking with the content of my affidavit, pursuant to the code of professional conduct, and I believe the affidavit speaks for itself," O'Toole replied.

Hicks asked about a letter from O'Toole to the commissioners.

O'Toole again declined to answer, even after being directed to by the court.

The judges spoke privately for a moment, then gave O'Toole five minutes to speak with her attorneys.

After a brief recess, Chief Assistant Prosecutor Dawn Cantalamessa moved to withdraw the two applications for funding.

O'Toole spoke from the stand after Harris adjourned the hearing.

"I find it rather sad that the commissioners choose to attack a prosecutor instead of trying to build relationships and support law enforcement," she said.

Earlier in the hearing, O'Toole called a pair of witnesses to support her application, Geneva-on-the-Lake Police Chief Kyle Cawley, and Cantalamessa.

Cawley previously served as an investigator with the Geauga County Prosecutor's Office. The investigator can help smaller police departments who have less experience with complex, long-term investigations, Cawley said.

Cantalamessa, who previously worked in the Mahoning County Prosecutor's Office, testified about the various services the proposed investigator could serve.

O'Toole said 50 of Ohio's 88 counties have special investigators.

"It speaks volumes that the county prosecutor was not willing to speak to her request on her stand," Ashtabula County Commissioner Casey Kozlowski said after the hearing.

O'Toole's office published a press release on Thursday afternoon, stating that the motions will be refiled as soon as possible, after O'Toole has a chance to consult with ethics counsel.

"We will continue to prosecute cases to the fullest extent of the law," the release states.