YOUNGSTOWN — Martin Desmond, an attorney for Ricky Morrison, a fired and then rehired county maintenance worker, has filed a petition in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court asking that one of the judges appoint a special prosecutor to investigate allegations of wrongdoing by several top county officials in the 2022 Morrison matter.

Desmond, who is also a former Mahoning County assistant prosecutor, filed the petition Wednesday, asking that any of the judges, including the administrative judge, grand jury judge or “common pleas judge” appoint a special prosecutor to investigate whether any criminal actions took place.

The 44-page document details what it says is new evidence that has come to Desmond’s attention — the desire of Steve Zawrotuk, to come forward to tell what he knows of the firing of Morrison as a result of being married to Mahoning County Prosecutor Gina DeGenova at the time the firing took place.

Desmond was one of Morrison’s attorneys in the federal civil rights lawsuit that was filed against the county commissioners, DeGenova and County Administrator Audrey Tillis in late 2022. The case was later settled out of court, and the county paid Morrison $175,000 as part of the settlement.

The allegations in the federal suit were that when Morrison was fired in early December of 2022, it was because he supported Commissioner Carol Rimedio Righetti’s opponent in the November 2022 general election, Geno DiFabio, and that the commissioners took a vote at a private meeting as to whether to fire Morrison. The federal lawsuit alleged that terminating Morrison for that reason violated Morrison’s constitutional rights. But DeGenova indicated that after investigating the allegations, she found that Tillis had fired Morrison, not the county commissioners.

Commissioner Anthony Traficanti later said that he broke with Rimedio Righetti and Commissioner David Ditzler and refused to fire Morrison during a Dec. 1, 2022, private executive session meeting.

DiFabio is back on the ballot again in this November’s general election, this time running against Commissioner David Ditzler. Desmond also ran for county prosecutor as a Republican in 2020 and lost to Gains, a Democrat. DeGenova, a Democrat, is also on this November’s ballot with Republican Lynn Maro running against her.

Desmond’s filing contains a summary of Zawrotuk’s allegations.

One is that after DeGenova received an email from Desmond’s co-counsel in the federal lawsuit, Subodh Chandra, regarding the Morrison allegations, Zawrotuk said he “personally overheard Gina speaking with Carol Rimedio Righetti about the termination of Ricky Morrison. David Ditzler and Carol Rimedio Righetti wanted to fire Ricky Morrison because he voted for Geno DiFabio against Carol Rimedio Righetti in the 2022 election.”

Another Zawrotuk allegation is that, “I later learned during another conversation with Gina that her ‘investigation’ revealed that Commissioners Ditzler and Rimedio Righetti admitted that the termination was politically motivated.”

When DeGenova was asked Thursday night about Zawrotuk’s allegations, she stated: “First and foremost, I want to categorically deny the false allegations made by my estranged husband against me.

“A few months ago, like many people, I made the difficult decision to leave an abusive marriage. I felt it was necessary to stand up for myself and to protect my daughter.

“I have tried to keep my private life private, but unfortunately it appears that is not possible because my estranged husband has launched a smear campaign against me in an attempt to undermine my campaign for county prosecutor. It’s also troubling that attorney Desmond has chosen to turn my divorce into a political issue.

“The timing of this filing is not a coincidence. It is gutter politics at its worst. However, I will continue to fight because I believe the citizens of Mahoning County deserve better. I will continue to fight for victims of crime, and I will continue to serve with dignity and honor as your Mahoning County Prosecutor.”

When Ditzler was asked about Desmond’s filing, he responded, “This is obviously a politically motivated act of desperation. Everything in the document is absolutely and totally false, as the pleadings filed two years ago have refuted.”

Rimedio Righetti responded by saying that she agrees with Ditzler’s remarks, that “this is really politically motivated.”

Tillis responded to the same request by saying that everything the county’s lawyers filed in the Morrison lawsuit disputing the lawsuit’s allegations were “the absolute truth.”