2007 | State v. Tony G. Brown

[Editor's note: This story has been updated with new records provided to Mahoning Matters Tuesday clarifying that Natasha Frenchko was not the prosecutor assigned to a 2007 rape case in which the courts ruled an evidence disclosure violation had occurred.]

Defense attorneys for Tony G. Brown, accused in 2007 of raping his girlfriend's young daughter multiple times, said prosecutors knew the alleged victim had recanted her statement but they "hid" it for more than a year.

Court records show former assistant Mahoning County prosecutor Dawn Cantalamessa was the correspondent for all communication about the case, though several others were involved. But she told Mahoning Matters last week she was in the background of this case, and that the alleged victim had recanted her claims long before she took the lead.

Early in the investigation, the girl's mother told authorities she didn't believe the assault happened, and said the girl had a history of behavioral issues and was a "compulsive liar."

Records show prosecutors had already drawn up a plea agreement for Brown, in which he'd plead to a charge of attempted rape and get eight years in prison. That document, as provided by the prosecutor's office, was undated.

But in early 2008, the girl admitted she made it all up when speaking to two prosecutors: Natasha Frenchko, who now works with the AG's office in Trumbull County; and Meghan Brundege, who is now the office's juvenile court prosecutor. Though defense attorneys in 2007 started making requests to receive all exculpatory evidence — meaning evidence that could favor the defendant — they claimed they didn't learn that the girl had recanted until days before trial.

"During this meeting [the alleged victim] stated that [Brown] did not do it, that nothing happened, and that she had previously lied when she said he raped her," reads a supplemental discovery filing from June 2009 provided by the prosecutor's office. "[The alleged victim] further stated that she lied because she was mad at her mom because her mom would not let her see her dad. [The alleged victim] informed prosecutors that a friend at school ... told her that this is how you get adults in trouble if you are mad at them."

Frenchko contacted Mahoning Matters by phone Tuesday to clarify that she was not assigned to the Brown case and therefore not responsible for disclosing evidence to defense attorneys.

Frenchko said she sat in on that early 2008 meeting with the alleged victim to assist Brundege. She said she similarly attended a June 2009 meeting between the alleged victim and former assistant Mahoning County prosecutor Gabriel Wildman — now an assistant prosecutor in Trumbull County — in which the girl reconfirmed that Brown "did not do it," according to that June 2009 filing.

While speaking to Mahoning Matters Tuesday, Frenchko furnished records indicating Brown's attorney Damian Billak of Canfield later filed a grievance with the Ohio Supreme Court's Disciplinary Counsel, alleging that she withheld that evidence.

"Apparently, three separate attorneys were present during the interviews [with the alleged victim], but you have only filed a grievance against Ms. Frenchko," wrote Heather Hissom, assistant disciplinary counsel, in January 2011, more than a year after Brown's case had been resolved.

"Although we do not condone prosecutors withholding discoverable information, which a change in the victim's story clearly is, it appears that all of the prosecutors involved believed that you were already aware of the information and that they did not need to forward it to you," Hissom continued. "Further, Ms. Frenchko was not the attorney of record on this matter and not responsible for providing you with discovery responses on this case."

The Office of Disciplinary Counsel dismissed Billak's complaint, after finding "no ethical violations or improprieties" on Frenchko's part, adding "we do not expect to see such a grievance against her in our office again."

After the discovery issue arose in June 2009, Brown's attorneys had the girl and her mother sign sworn affidavits stating the accusations were false.

The court noted a violation of the Brady Rule days later, ordered the prosecutor's office to turn over all other evidence favorable to the defense and pushed back Brown's trial date.

Some of the records from Brown's case file furnished to Mahoning Matters by the prosecutor's office appear incomplete, and are missing pages.

One partially provided motion from prosecutors, which opposed the defense's motion to dismiss the case, argues that Brown's attorneys attempted to "blackmail" prosecutors into dropping the charges by threatening criminal charges or ethical sanctions against the prosecutor's office for alleged misconduct.

Former assistant Mahoning County prosecutors Gabriel Wildman and Natasha Frenchko (Source: Mahoning County Prosecutor's Office)

In another incomplete and undated court transcript, Brown's attorney Billak said some attorneys in the prosecutor's office had developed a pattern of evidentiary "embarrassments."

"The pattern of abuse is what brought us back here today again, in this case and others, but particularly in this case," Billak said, according to transcripts of a hearing before Judge John Durkin, who oversaw Brown's case.

Billak said attorneys met multiple times with the girl and her mother and cited the girl's history of behavioral issues, including being a "compulsive liar," as the girl's mother had explained to prosecutors in early 2008.

"Now that she's been in counseling, she's doing better and is telling the truth. … None of that was ever provided to us," he continued. "It's frightening to think that without any other evidence, no DNA, no medical evidence, the medical findings that are not even conclusive, that there is no evidence that any sexual contact or conduct happened. The fact that the state of Ohio would attempt to proceed to a trial with simply a recantation of a now 11-year-old girl is frightening to me and it should be to everybody."

In response, Judge Durkin said in that undated transcript:

"I am not necessarily addressing counsel sitting before me, but it is alarming how many cases come through the prosecutor's office where there is clearly Brady material and an attitude that verges on the cavalier where that material or exculpatory evidence is not disclosed or disclosed at a late date and, again, a sentiment that 'it's no big deal.'

"To me, the role of a prosecutor is not to garner a conviction at any and all cost, it is to ensure that justice is done. And sometimes that might mean dismissing a case."

Mahoning County Common Pleas Judge John Durkin (Source: Mahoning County Common Pleas Court Reporter's Office)

The following August, the girl's mother became "uncooperative" with prosecutors and suggested the girl "has previously made other allegations of sexual assault," according to a filing by prosecutors. Later that month, prosecutors asked the court to allow the girl to be put on the witness stand and testify to the truth of the incident, citing the detail and consistency with which she previously described the alleged sexual assaults to authorities.

Though prosecutors argued the girl had only "recently" recanted her statement, Billak countered that was "blatantly false."

"[The alleged victim] recanted her allegations the better part of two years ago. The state simply hid the recantation," he wrote.

The judge ultimately denied the motion to call the girl as a witness at Brown's trial.

A jury acquitted Brown in October 2009.

This story was originally published October 26, 2021 at 3:52 AM with the headline "2007 | State v. Tony G. Brown."