WARREN – Most of the criminal cases against former Liberty School principal Joseph Nohra, Jr. have been dismissed by the Trumbull County Court of Appeal.

Judge Ronald J. Rice delivered the verdict Wednesday afternoon. The ruling says there was a Rice Chambers hearing on December 9, in which Nohra’s attorney Dave Petras asked Rice to reconsider the November 2 ruling denying Nohra’s October 1 claim. . “Points 1 to 6 of the indictment dismissed for ambiguity.”

Nohr’s trial was scheduled to begin Monday before Rice without a jury. Rice had to decide whether Nohra was guilty of six felonies and five misdemeanors for wiretapping the school district office in 2018, when Nora was the principal.

Nohra, 50, of Topper Hill Drive in Hubbard, was indicted in a special report to a Trumbull County jury in May with six interceptions of wired, verbal or electronic communications and five interfering civil rights violations. Rice dropped the wiretapping allegation on Wednesday.

Prosecutors offered to drop charges for the crime, and Nohra pleaded not to appeal for offenses punishable by up to six months in prison. But Nohra told the judge he was declining the offer.

Petras said on Wednesday he was happy with Rice’s decision.

“As we have said previously, Mr. Nehra has taken, at the discretion of the school board and with the approval of the lawyer, appropriate action to protect the district and the taxpayers. It must be praised, not pursued. “ said Pétras.

Rice speaks in her judgment “The Court is of the opinion that there is no indication of what constitutes oral communication in this regard and that this lack of guidance results in an arbitrary and discriminatory application of this law.”

Chuck Morrow, assistant district attorney for Trumbull County, said his office was considering Rice’s opinion, including whether he would appeal. He said his office still maintains that the law is constitutional, with a pre-trial trial on the misdemeanor allegations scheduled for today.

According to the prosecution, Nohra was indicted while he was the supervisor who installed a hidden camera and sound on the desk clerk’s desk in the bus garage. The allegations stem from an investigation opened by the state auditor’s office and conducted under a search warrant by local authorities at Liberty Schools on March 5, 2019.

However, Petras explained that Nehra provided credible evidence that a school employee may have been involved in the theft at the office. With the knowledge and approval of the school board and its lawyer, Nehra launched his own investigation which led to the employee’s resignation, Petras previously said.

The attorney general’s office concluded that the alleged offenses took place in April 2018 over a two-week period. Nohra resigned from the Freedom Monitor in June 2020.

Meanwhile, a civil case is also pending against Nohra in the Rice court. In the complaint, filed in July, seven people claimed their privacy was violated by secret recordings allegedly ordered by a former supervisor.

Earlier this month, Rice hosted a conference to set up a meeting with lawyers in the civil case. Preliminary testimony is due by September 15, 2022, and all factual and legal submissions will be submitted by November 1, 2022. A final pre-trial hearing will be scheduled for January 24, 2023 and the jury will be the panel. of the trial. February 13, 2023.

The plaintiffs in the civil suit are former or current school district employees Kristen Gallagher of Hubbard, Rick Switlak of Poland, Dale Fuller of Gerard, Karen Copenhagenfer of Hubbard, Leslie Diana of Youngstown and two others, Gallagher’s husband, David and a close friend of Francine Delbina MacDonald. The defendant was selected, along with Nohra, as a defendant on the Liberty Local Board of Education.

The plaintiffs, who claim to invade privacy and suffer emotionally, jointly claim more than $ 595,000 in damages.