After mistrial in client extortion case, 2 law partners take plea involving no prison time
A former county bar association president and his law partner in a Youngstown, Ohio, firm have avoided prison time in a federal case over claimed extortion of a client convenience store owner.
Originally charged with extortion and obstruction of justice, among other crimes, defendant attorneys Scott Cochran and Neal Atway got a reprieve last year when a mistrial was declared in the Cleveland case. An undescribed juror communication led to the early termination of the trial, as WFMJ reported at the time.
In October, the two took a plea deal: Cochran pleaded guilty to misbehavior in the court’s presence, because of failing to provide truthful testimony at a trial; and Atway pleaded guilty to conspiring against the rights of a client, according to the Vindicator and WFMJ.
On Tuesday, the two were sentenced. Cochran was fined $2,500 and put on probation for two years. Atway was fined $2,000 and put on home confinement, with an electronic monitor, for four months, and probation for three years.
In pre-sentence filings, lawyers for both defendants said they had already suffered significantly as a result of the case.
“While many of his clients were willing to stay with him, and many in the local legal community expressed continued support for him, the stress and his commitment to fighting the original charges against him devastated his practice,” wrote attorney Lynn Maro in a sentencing memorandum about Cochran.
Attorney Roger Synenberg represented Atway. He described his client as “deeply remorseful, ashamed, and embarrassed by his conduct.”
An earlier Vindicator story provides additional details about the trial.
The extortion case began to unfold when Atway was hired to represent convenience store owner Charles Muth, who faced sentencing in a criminal case concerning a drive-by shooting at the home in which the wife of a rival store owner lived. Atway was accused of conspiring with the other store owner, Mohd Rawhneh, in an effort to extract money and property from Atway’s client, Muth.
If Muth didn’t ante up, he was allegedly told, the other store owner would speak at his sentencing hearing in an effort to see that Muth got more time, the WFMJ article explains.
Cochran testified when the two lawyers were tried last year that he knew nothing about Atway’s claimed communication to his client, in which he allegedly told Muth that Rawhneh would say nothing at Muth’s sentencing if he anted up. However, federal prosecutors say Cochran had heard a phone conversation in which Atway did make this statement to Muth.
Rawhneh previously took a plea in a witness-tampering case and awaits sentencing.
