MAHONING COUNTY, Ohio - Two months after a three-year-old died in Struthers, questions remain about where the investigation stands. 

The case was handed over to the Mahoning County Sheriff’s Department shortly after the incident because of a conflict of interest within the Struthers Police Department, and investigators have been working the case since mid-August.

Mahoning County Prosecutor Lynn Maro confirmed her office just received the investigative reports in recent days and is reviewing them.

“The reports came to the prosecutor's office just this week. They're being reviewed now,” Maro said, “At some point, we'll have that roundtable discussion on, what does it look like the evidence supports as far as charges, and we'll do that analysis down the road. I can't tell you if we're going to ask them to do any additional investigation or ask for any additional information, because I haven't finished reviewing the reports yet.”

Maro emphasized that, in general, modern investigations as a whole are far more complex than they were decades ago, leading to longer timelines before prosecutors make charging decisions, and said it's important the public understands that. 

“In the olden days, a robbery would have eight to ten pages of records and that would be it. Maybe the defendant would give a statement. Maybe you'd have a few witness statements,” Maro said, “Now every officer that responds has a body camera on for hours and hours. If there are eight officers there, you have to review all of their body cams. In addition to the body cam, I can't think of many cases nowadays where some form of social media is not involved. To subpoena Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram, or any other social media platform takes months and months to get those responses.”

Maro also described how cell phone technology has expanded the amount of evidence prosecutors review.

“Even before I took office as a defense attorney, a typical cell phone dump would be 10,000 pages of records,” Maro said, “You've got to go through those records. You've got to discern what may be applicable to a case, what might not be something you review initially, that you don't think is relevant. You talk to a couple of witnesses. It becomes relevant. You have to go back. So the volume of records and documents, because of our technology, has expanded exponentially. So the typical investigation takes longer.”

The Ohio Supreme Court has also changed how prosecutors handle cases, requiring them to be ready for trial sooner after indictment," she added. 

“The Ohio Supreme Court has changed that dynamic dramatically,” Maro said, “Our Chief Justice has developed timelines for when a case is indicted to when it must be done that have significantly interfered with our ability to then indict the case and wait for those additional reports to come in. There are no more continuances after continuances, waiting for crime lab reports to come in, or trying to find a witness. We have to have those cases ready to be tried and done when we indict them. So we're going to wait to indict and file charges until we have all the evidence we need. So you'll see a longer delay.”

She pointed to crime lab timelines as another key factor in any given investigation.

“The crime lab for drug tests is taking upwards of four to five months to get drug results back to us. When it's other types of tests like gunshot residue, ballistics, reports, DNA, the same thing. It's taking three to four, sometimes upwards of five months to get those results back,” she said, “We don't have a pathologist in Mahoning County doing autopsies. Those have to go to Cleveland. It takes roughly on average three months to get an autopsy report back.”

She said thoroughness is intentional so that prosecutors are utilizing resources properly and ensuring a fair and complete case with enough evidence. 

“You certainly don't want to be in a position where you're indicting a case, bringing charges, and then getting crime lab reports back that hurt your case,” Maro said, “You want to know that up front so you're properly assessing what charges to bring and making sure you're charging the right person.”

Maro also addressed the timeline of cases and explained it's not unusual for cases to take numerous months. 

“Anybody who says two months is too long for an investigation doesn't have a realistic view of what the justice system involves,” she said, “Two months really isn't unusual at all. Understanding the resources that go into an investigation, you want to make sure you're doing all of the investigation up front so you don't have something surprise you down the road after charges are filed."

Maro said Ohio ethical guidelines also bar prosecutors and attorneys from commenting on pending investigations and potential charges.

Once the review is fully complete, prosecutors meet to determine whether the evidence supports potential charges, and she said it's not uncommon for the prosecutor's office to ask detectives to go back and follow up with witnesses or other aspects of the investigation.

"I know everybody likes swift justice," she said, "But I think in our current day and age with the technology that's out there, sometimes it makes more sense to pump the brakes up front, do it right from the beginning, so you don't have to dismiss or refile charges or amend indictments down the road."