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LISBON -- Columbiana County Assistant Prosecutor Florence Turner filed appeals recently to challenge decisions by Municipal Court Judge Danielle Menning to dismiss two sex-for-hire cases over alleged discovery violations.
The appeals were filed with the Seventh District Court of Appeals in cases involving Gregory John Winich, 64, New Brighton, Pa., and Christopher L. Delaney, 57, New Castle, Pa.
In the case related to Winich, Turner listed for review whether the trial court abused its discretion by dismissing the criminal case as a sanction for an untimely disclosure of an item not included in Criminal Rule 16.
Criminal Rule 16 is the rule related to the providing of discovery, or the evidence, for a case.
Winich had been charged with engaging in prostitution and possessing criminal tools for allegedly responding to an undercover ad on a known prostitution website and arranging for sexual activity with a woman in exchange for money, then driving to East Palestine on Dec. 23, 2025 for the meeting with the phone used to make the arrangements in his possession.
His defense attorney, Ron Yarwood, asked the court to dismiss the criminal case over a discovery issue, saying the state failed to provide the advertisement the undercover officer placed on the website by the deadline set by the court. He said lesser sanctions would not cure the conduct.
He wrote in his motion to dismiss that "this issue is an ongoing concern pertaining to the engaging in prostitution investigations."
Turner disagreed with dismissal, saying the state produced the advertisement, which makes the argument of failing to provide discovery moot, even though the providing of the ad was late.
Menning dismissed the case based on the discovery issue.
In the case against Delaney, who was charged with engaging in prostitution and possession of criminal tools for an alleged Jan. 30, 2026 sex-for-hire incident in East Palestine, Menning also dismissed the case based on what she called the state's lack of compliance with the rules of discovery,
The judgment entry noted the court "considered several less severe sanctions which were not the appropriate action under these specific facts."
Delaney was represented by defense attorney Joseph Ohlin, who also challenged the discovery issues.
In the appeal for the Delaney case, Turner listed one probable issue for review: "Whether the trial court abused its discretion by dismissing the criminal case as a sanction for an inadvertent and readily curable clerical error without adequately considering the surrounding circumstances, actual prejudice to defendant, defense counsel's failure to timely raise the apparent clerical error, and the availability of a less severe sanction under Criminal Rule 16."
Delaney has already requested expungement of his record related to the sex-for-hire case.