The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
North Ridgeville murder trial set to begin
Questions of attorney-client privilege and outside information kicked off the murder trial of 77-year-old Ronald Svec.
Questions of attorneyclient privilege and outside information kicked off the murder trial of 77-year-old Ronald Svec on June 4.
Svec, whose listed address is in Parma on court documents, is accused of the Nov. 6, 2015, shooting death of his wife, Gloria Svec, 69, at a house on Jaycox Road in North Ridgeville.
The afternoon was filled with defense attorney Jenifer Berki and Lorain County Assistant Prosecutor Dona Freeman choosing a jury to hear the case.
The morning was filled with a hearing on various pretrial motions filed by Berki.
Berki’s first argument pertained to recordings of her calls with Svec while he has been incarcerated
in the Lorain County Jail on a $1.5 million bond.
It is common practice for any inmate calls to be recorded and reviewed by prosecutors.
Sometimes they are used by prosecutors to impeach statements made by defendants
or other witnesses when the recordings differ with testimony.
Berki argued the recordings of calls between she and Svec should not be used in the trial.
“Attorney-client privilege is a sacred one,” Berki said addressing Lorain County Common Pleas Judge James L. Miraldi. “The Constitution was very clear that attorney and client communication should be privileged.”
She added that the U.S. Supreme Court has upheld that privileged nature of such correspondence.
“The Constitution protects my calls, my communication, with my client,” Berki continued. “This particular jail does not have a way for my client to call me without it being recorded.
“Other jails, other facilities, (I’ve done research on a lot of other ones) you can register your phone number and they’re not allowed to record those conversations.”
Berki said she understands the County Jail is short-staffed and busy, but there were “a lot” of times she would attempt to visit Svec to speak in person and was unable to leading to her giving him her cell phone number and asking him to call her.
“I typically do not make a practice of talking on the phone, I haven’t this whole time,” she said. “But it was close to trial, your honor, and I needed access to my client.”
Berki said Svec clearly identified at the beginning of their call that he was speaking with his attorney.
“I did not believe, per Constitution, that our call would have been recorded,” she said.
“The recording (which plays at the beginning of each jail call) said may be monitored or recorded, it doesn’t say ‘it will be monitored or recorded.’
“I’m an attorney; may or shall are two different things.”
Lorain County Assistant Prosecutor Anthony Cillo, who argued against the motions on behalf of Freeman as she prepared for the trial, clarified the state did not intend to use the recordings except to impeach the testimony of Svec, if he chooses to testify.
Miraldi ruled that since Cillo stated there was no intention to present the conversations as direct evidence, attorney-client privilege was not being violated and that he would hold the prosecution to that.
He added the caveat if Svec testified, it could be used for matters of crossexamination.
“That’s my understanding,” Miraldi said.
Berki also moved to be able to use a witness to testify that Svec was aware of an incident involving the victim and that it would speak to her intended selfdefense theory of the case.
Miraldi ruled he would decide on the issue as it came up in the trial.
The trial is set to begin with opening statements at 9 a.m. June 5.