Robert L. Moore, right, complains to his attorney, Lou DeFabio, on Wednesday after his hearing ended in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court, where his upcoming trial was postponed again.

YOUNGSTOWN — Lynn Maro, whose first day as Mahoning County prosecutor was Monday, has a potential conflict of interest in the murder retrial of Robert L. Moore, 54, of Alliance, which was set to begin Monday, so Judge Maureen Sweeney of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court canceled the trial during a hearing Wednesday.

It is one of a long list of postponements in the case that was indicted in December 2021 over the 2009 disappearance and presumed murder of Glenna J. White, 16, of Alliance. She disappeared from a home in Smith Township near Alliance after leaving the home with Moore, prosecutors said.

It was one of two hearings Wednesday where a potential conflict of interest with the new prosecutor was discussed. In a hearing in Judge R. Scott Krichbaum’s court, Maro said she had represented Andre K. Bailey in 2017 on a judicial release hearing. Maro said she just learned that Bailey was scheduled for trial Monday and filed a motion Wednesday asking that Krichbaum postpone Bailey’s trial so that Maro can find another prosecutor to handle the case. Krichbaum found that there was no conflict, however, and denied the motion. He later postponed the trial for other reasons.

In a filing in Moore’s case, Assistant Prosecutor Rob Andrews stated that while Maro was a defense lawyer, she consulted with Moore’s family concerning the defense of the charges against (Moore). She was not engaged as counsel and did not enter an appearance herein as defense counsel, the filing states.

“Though Ms. Maro did not represent Mr. Moore, she was, as the Professional Conduct Rules require, loyal in her advice to Mr. Moore’s family, just as she is now loyal to the State of Ohio as the principal prosecuting attorney for the State of Ohio in this county,” the filing states.

After hearing from the prosecution and defense during a hearing, the judge said she had “no choice” but to postpone the case in order to leave time for a new prosecution team to be assembled and to prepare for the trial. She said it is complex and has a lot of evidence and documents to review.

Pat Fening, county assistant prosecutor, said the consultation between Maro and Moore’s family took place after Moore’s first trial in June of 2022. He said Maro has talked to prosecutor’s offices in multiple counties, but did not identify any that would take the case.

The Ohio Attorney General’s Office is willing to handle it, and there was going to be a conversation with the Summit County Prosecutor’s Office later Wednesday because that office has agreed to serve, in general, as a backup for such cases. “I don’t know if this is one that they would take on, so I believe it would either be either Summit County or the Attorney General’s Office,” he said.

Lou DeFabio, Moore’s attorney, said he believes there is a conflict with the Mahoning County Prosecutor’s office but he “cannot consent to a continuance of the trial. My client has been in jail now for three years on a million dollar bond.”

A pretrial hearing is set for 10 a.m. Feb. 6 to meet with the new prosecution team to talk about Moore’s bond amount.

Maro’s filing states that the Professional Conduct Rules state that a “conflict of interest exists if there is a substantial risk that the lawyer’s ability to consider, recommend or carry out an appropriate course of action for a client will be materially limited by the lawyer’s responsibilities to a former client or third person.”

It adds that the “legal system’s authority depends in large measure on the public’s willingness to respect the decisions of the legal system and to follow those decisions; or, as Justice Felix Frankfurter once wrote for the Supreme Court: “justice must satisfy the appearance of justice.” It adds, “Public perception of integrity is a state interest of the highest order.” Maro’s filing states that it is “ethically appropriate that she” and the rest of the prosecutor’s office withdraw from the case.

The first jury heard the case in June of 2022 and found Moore not guilty of aggravated murder but could not decide whether Moore was guilty of murder, so prosecutors decided to try him again. Glenna disappeared after leaving a home in Smith Township near Sebring and Alliance. Moore was indicted in December 2021.