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Gorman, Malarcik & Pierce submit two more cases to Akron Bar contest
SHERRY KARABIN
Legal News Reporter
Published: March 24, 2017
Defendant gets reduced sentence
Should drug dealers and suppliers be held accountable for the deaths of those using their drugs and how stiff should the penalties be? Those were some of the issues surrounding the case of a Silver Lake man charged with providing the heroin that proved fatal to a Niles man.
Attorneys Don Malarcik and Brian Pierce from the eight-person criminal defense law firm of Gorman, Malarcik & Pierce represented defendant Charles J. Marotto Jr., charged in connection with the heroin overdose death of his friend.
The incident occurred in Cuyahoga Falls on July 25, 2015. Police and fire units responded to the report of a casualty in a home on Grant Avenue, discovering the body of Aaron Carter, 23. Investigators later determined he died from a heroin overdose and that Marotto had supplied the heroin that killed him.
Marotto was facing a host of charges, including involuntary manslaughter, drug trafficking and corrupting another with drugs.
The case proceeded to Summit County Common Pleas court with Judge Lynne Callahan presiding and Summit County Assistant Prosecutor Joe Dangelo representing the state.
“Over the last two years prosecutors have been aggressively prosecuting individuals who provide people with fatal doses of heroin,” said Malarcik. “In this case, we brought up a number of issues, including the fact that Charles himself was an addict and that addicts often share drugs.
“It could just as easily have been Charles who died because they both used the same batch of heroin,” he said. “The drug affects people differently and it is very harsh to hold one addict responsible for another addict’s death.”
Malarcik said Marotto was facing 10 years in prison.
On Jan. 20, 2016, Marotto, then 28, pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter and trafficking in heroin. In March 2016, Judge Callahan sentenced him to five years in prison.
The judge later vacated the sentence because of a potential conflict of interest, but Judge Tammy O’Brien handed down an identical sentence later that month.
“Our firm has taken on a number of these cases since prosecutors began aggressively prosecuting dealers and suppliers,” said Malarcik. “We cannot incarcerate our way out of the heroin epidemic. We need to look at other ways to deal with the problem in our community.”
Although Summit County Prosecutor Sherri Bevan Walsh’s office did not speak with the Akron Legal News, Director of Communications James Pollack sent an emailed statement on behalf of the prosecutor.
The email said, “We have taken a more aggressive approach in prosecuting these cases because the people who peddle this poison must be held accountable. The drug dealers may not care about the people addicted to heroin, but we do.
“We must fight for the victims and their families, who demand justice. This may not solve the problem, but is one way to show that we will not stand still while people are dying. This is just one part of a massive issue. We also work with community leaders, educators, and medical professionals on finding solutions to this crisis.”
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Client stays off death row
It’s not uncommon for death penalty cases to undergo a number of twists and turns and the case of State of Ohio v. Deshanon Haywood definitely had more than its share.
The case dates back to April 18, 2013 when four people were murdered during a robbery that took place in a Kimlyn Circle townhouse located in the Chapel Hill area of Akron.
Akron residents Haywood and Derrick Brantley were charged in connection with the execution-style killings of Ronald Roberts, 24, Kem Delaney, 23, Maria Nash, 19 and Kiana Welch, 19. The victims were taken to a basement laundry room and shot multiple times in the head.
The trials for the two defendants were split. Attorneys Joseph Gorman and Brian Pierce from the eight-person criminal defense firm Gorman, Malarcik & Pierce began representing Haywood shortly after the incident.
If convicted, Haywood was facing the death penalty.
“It took two-and-a-half trials to achieve a result,” said Gorman.
The case began in Summit County Common Pleas Court, with Judge Mary Margaret Rowlands presiding.
But Judge Rowlands recused herself and Summit County Common Pleas Judge Paul Gallagher stepped in to take her place.
A full jury trial proceeded in 2014.
“The prosecution argued that the two defendants were there to rob one of the victims of a large amount of heroin and decided to kill all four of them to cover it up,” said Gorman.
Haywood was found guilty of all four murders but the verdict was set aside.
“We were going to proceed to the death penalty phase when we found out two of the witnesses were given deals that were not disclosed,” said Gorman. “We filed a motion for a new trial, arguing prosecutorial misconduct.”
In early 2015 Summit County Prosecutor Sherri Bevan Walsh filed a motion requesting that Cuyahoga County Assistant Prosecutors Mahmoud Awadallah and Brian Radigan be appointed to serve as special prosecutors during the retrial.
The motion stated that its intention was “To avoid any claims of the prosecutors being unfair to Defendant Haywood, based on unsupported allegations defendant Haywood has made…”
Awadallah, Radigan and Cuyahoga County Assistant Prosecutor Eric Foster represented the state in the retrial.
On June 19, 2015, a Summit County jury convicted Haywood, 23, of all four murders.
“The same jury then decided that a life sentence was more appropriate than death,” said Gorman.
Under his July 2015 sentence, Haywood’s first eligibility for parole is in 35 years.
Haywood’s accomplice in the killings, Derrick Brantley, was convicted in a separate trial in 2014 and sentenced to life in prison.
“We think the case was extremely important because we were able to get a life sentence instead of the death sentence,” said Gorman. “We were also able to get the first verdict thrown out because the prosecutors withheld evidence.”
James Pollack, director of communications for the Summit County Prosecutor’s Office, has denied any wrongdoing by the prosecution in the 2014 trial of Haywood.
In an emailed statement Cuyahoga County Assistant Prosecutor Brian Radigan said, “We sought the death penalty and the jury saw things differently. Although we disagree with the jury, we respect their decision.”