The City of Youngstown is asking for charges against a former Youngstown Police Department Lieutenant to be reinstated after they were dropped.

In October of 2022, former YPD Lieutenant Brian Flynn was charged with 14 misdemeanor counts of Dereliction of Duties in stemming from an alleged failure to investigate over a dozen cases of child sex abuse or child pornography.

These charges came after Flynn had been placed on paid leave for over a year, beginning in March of 2021. Flynn was eventually fired in December of 2022.

In June of 2023, all of Flynn's charges were dismissed due to Garrity rights, which protect public employees from incriminating themselves and allows for them to have a union representative present during questioning.

"It is well settled federal and state constitutional law that 'Garrity statements given by a public employee during an internal investigation under threat of the employee's termination from office are compelled statements and are subject to the constitutional protections of the fifth and fourteenth Amendments,'" read a notice of appeal filed by Youngstown Law Director, Jeff Limbian.

According to the notice of appeal, the United States Supreme Court established a two-pronged test that the prosecution must satisfy where a witness makes a claim that their immunized testimony was used.

Firstly, the government must deny any use of the immunized testimony against the accused in a criminal case, and secondly, the government must prove that all of the evidence used at trial is derived from sources independent of the immunized testimony.

The notice of appeal argues that the State of Ohio met its burden of proof of both elements through the testimony of a YPD detective who is quoted as testifying "When we conduct a criminal investigation, it has to be separate from any internal investigation."

According to the notice, the detective further testified that he "didn't use any personal investigation as far as [Flynn's] work history," and that once he discovered information from the internal investigation he disregarded it because he knew could not include that in his own independent investigation.

The notice states that this detective compiled his investigation into a binder that he delivered to the Youngstown Law Department, and that the binder was prepared independent of any of the prohibited areas of information.

"[The detective's] testimony as the State of Ohio's first direct witness was in itself the State's denial of use of Garrity material," the notice reads.

The notice goes on to argue that the trial court further found that "there was no evidence presented by either party at the hearing which indicated whether Garrity materials were or were not used in the investigation of the criminal case by persons other than [the detective.]"

The notice argues that while the Law Department may have had both the Garrity protected materials and the independent investigation report at the same time, that doesn't necessarily mean a Garrity violation would occur, and the only way for a violation to occur is if the Garrity material was actually used during the trial.

"Conversely, the testimony at the hearing revealed that the State of Ohio based its charges on [the detective's] investigation, which the trial court found to not include any use of Garrity materials," the notice reads.

The notice argues that based on the detective's testimony and there being no evidence of Garrity material being used, that Flynn's charges should be reinstated.

Flynn was hired by the Youngstown Police Department in August 1998. He was then promoted to detective sergeant in 2006 and lieutenant in 2011.