Judge postpones Gwinn sentencing, pending motions

The judge hearing the criminal case of former Athens County Democratic Party Chair Susan Gwinn has postponed her sentencing, to give a special prosecutor time to respond to motions asking that two misdemeanor convictions against Gwinn be reversed.

Gwinn, meanwhile, has for the first time acknowledged in a campaign finance report that the source of more than $27,000 she used in a 2008 bid to unseat county Prosecutor C. David Warren was loans from her brother and another man.

Last month, appointed Judge William H. Wolff, Jr., found Gwinn guilty of two counts of falsifying campaign finance reports. The misdemeanor charges stemmed from the fact that Gwinn had taken loans from her brother Daniel Gwinn, and Massachusetts resident Greg Kenley, to help pay for her political campaign, but listed the money on finance reports as a loan from herself.

Gwinn had been indicted on a number of other more serious felony charges, but Wolff threw out two bribery charges during her trial, then acquitted her of theft in office, money laundering and unauthorized use of property.

In a motion asking Wolff to set aside his guilty verdict, Gwinn's attorneys have argued that Ohio elections regulations explicitly allow a candidate to list as the source of a campaign loan not the person who made the loan, but the person "“ in this case Gwinn herself "“ who has taken on the obligation of repaying it.

In another motion, Gwinn's attorneys asked Wolff to dismiss the falsification charges. They claim Wolff has no jurisdiction to hear the charges, because a complaint based on the same facts is currently under consideration by an appellate court, after Gwinn appealed a decision of the Ohio Elections Commission.

In response to these motions, Wolff on Friday filed a journal entry in Athens County Common Pleas Court, indicating that he will postpone sentencing Gwinn on the falsification charges. Her sentencing had been scheduled for Feb. 19.

Wolff gave special prosecutor Dave Yost of Delaware County until Feb. 11 to respond to the defense motions.

After the state responds, the defense will then have until Feb. 18 to reply.

Gwinn recently filed an annual campaign finance report with the Athens County Board of Elections, which covers financial activity from the date of her last report, after the 2008 Democratic Primary, through Dec. 31.

In her latest report, Gwinn lists an outstanding loan of $27,700, whose donor she lists as Susan Gwinn and/or Greg Kenley and/or Daniel Gwinn.

In a "to-whom-it-may-concern" letter dated Jan. 29 and included with the finance report, Gwinn's campaign treasurer, Sherry D. Cooley Coon, explained the rationale for the filing.

"As there is pending litigation regarding whether the sources of the outstanding loans on the report should be reported under Susan Gwinn's name and/or other names, the Committee to Elect Susan Gwinn has decided to list all names until the issue is finally determined in the committee's appeal," Coon wrote.