Foley’s trial that was scheduled for October will be rescheduled for later this year. State-appointed visiting Judge Jonathan Hein will submit a decision regarding Starline’s testimony.
Hein closed part of Monday’s hearing to the public, with Foley’s attorneys Jon Paul Rion and Catherine Jackson arguing that their questions for Starline, as well as his responses, could reveal what they believed to be attorney-client privileged information.
A Dayton Daily News reporter and a few courtroom attendees were barred from sitting in the courtroom for the bulk of the hearing. But before the session was closed, attorneys asked Starline about his role at the clerk of courts office.
Ohio Auditor of State Attorney Thomas Anger argued that Starline’s interviews with state investigators did not include privileged information and that Starline did not serve as Foley’s attorney in official capacities: he never represented Foley in a court setting and he never wrote legal briefs on his behalf.
Starline joined the Montgomery County Clerk of Courts office as a special project manager several years ago, advancing to other titles in the office, such as auto title investigator, legal compliance officer and eventually the director of human resources, before he was terminated from his job in 2022. He has had a law license for more than two decades.
Starline — also a former Huber Heights city councilmember — has alleged that while working at the clerk’s office, he “observed (Foley’s) administrative assistant, who is also his campaign treasurer … doing campaign finance documents on the County computers where she was filling out his campaign finance report, asking him questions, he was answering from his corner office,” according to court records.
Some of the 12 counts Foley faces are linked to the time theft of former employee Elle Sollenberger for the time she allegedly spent working on his campaign, soliciting political contributions and working on his private business, the Dayton Daily News previously reported.
When Starline was interviewed by state investigators, he said that he served as the “in-house” attorney during his clerk’s office tenure. His clerk’s office email signature also included the word “Esquire” after his name, nodding to his law license.
When he was initially hired by the clerk’s office, he also highlighted his legal experience in both his résumé and his email to the clerk’s office inquiring about an open position, and Foley told Starline said he was excited to have an attorney on his staff, according to Jackson.
Rion and Jackson have argued in court that the charges against Foley sprouted from “misleading” testimony that may have also included privileged information between an attorney and his client.
“I think the entirety of our motion goes to Mr. Foley’s due process rights being violated based upon the pre-existing attorney-client privilege violations that occurred, which led to charges that would have never come to fruition,” said Jackson.
Starline said while he was being questioned by attorneys in open court that he never served as an attorney for the clerk’s office in any official capacity — by statute, in many cases, that responsibility falls on the Montgomery County Prosecutor’s Office.
He also argued that many attorneys take certain steps to document an attorney-client relationship: this can include issuing the client a representation letter that details the formal contract between an attorney and his or her client. Attorneys are also often covered with malpractice insurance. Starline said neither of these things ever occurred during his work at the clerk’s office.
Foley’s attorneys filed a subpoena in recent weeks to acquire Starline’s cellphone to access text messages. After this subpoena was challenged by Starline’s attorney, Foley’s attorneys dismissed it.
Foley was indicted last year alongside former Montgomery County Municipal Court Judge James Piergies, who has since pleaded guilty to allegations related to his son’s employment. Charges against Foley and Piergies came two years after the clerk of courts office was raided by state auditor’s office investigators.
Foley in June changed his plea to no contest as a part of a plea bargain, but this jeopardized his eligibility to stay in elected office. Hein accepted a plea withdrawal and reversed Foley’s conviction last month, putting the elected officials back on the path toward a trial.
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