CLEVELAND, Ohio - A judge will allow attorneys representing two of the defendants in the Oakhill corruption case to subpoena one of the prosecution’s confidential informants and prosecutors who have handled the investigation.

Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Judge Janet Burnside granted the motion filed by attorneys for Youngstown Mayor John McNally and former Mahoning County Michael Sciortino seeking a sealed subpoena for the unnamed informant.

McNally, Sciortino and Youngstown Attorney Martin Yavorcik face 83 charges relating to an alleged effort to cover up a plot to derail efforts by Mahoning County Commissioners to move some county offices out of a building owned by the Cafaro family, and into the Oakhill Renaissance Place.

Defense lawyers say they need sworn testimony from the informant to prove their assertion that there exists nearly three times the 780 hours of recorded conversations that prosecutors claim are pertinent to the case against their clients.

According to the defense motion, the confidential informant wore a wire during several visits to Sciortino’s home and spoke to Sciortino on the telephone during peak political seasons.

The government claims that the 2,000 hours of recorded evidence does not exist.

Ohio Attorney General's spokesman Dan Tierney says they will not challenge the judge's decision to grant the subpoenas under seal because they don't wish any further delay in the trial which isn't scheduled to commence until next spring.

However, Tierney says the government will make sure that Judge Burnside's ruling protects the identity of the confidential informant, and that only legal counsel and the judge are present during the questioning.

Tierney says investigators have become aware of another threat made against the confidential informant during the past two weeks.

In February, prosecutors said they were forced to relocate a confidential informant who had allegedly been the target of threats.

The judge is also allowing the defense to subpoena lead prosecutor Dan Kasaris. and three former special prosecutors who handled the case when it was first prosecuted in Mahoning County Court.

That earlier case was withdrawn after prosecutors could not obtain the FBI tape recordings that figure prominently into the current case.

Judge Burnside specified that that the four prosecutors were being subpoenaed only for testimony in pretrial hearings regarding defense efforts to discover more about the evidence in the case.

An October 16 hearing is scheduled in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas court where defense attorneys will argue for sanctions against the prosecution for allegedly failing to turn over all the evidence in the case.