Overview
- Summit County Judge Susan Baker Ross ruled prosecutors may show jurors evidence that customer bills spiked connected to HB 6, though they cannot tell jurors their own rates rose.
- The court barred prosecutors from highlighting the size of the defense teams and largely prohibited asking witnesses about prior Fifth Amendment invocations.
- Brakey Energy’s Matt Brakey testified the 2018 lump-sum $4.3 million went to Sam Randazzo, said IEU-Ohio received none of it, and described a 2015 addendum that prosecutors say steered those funds for 2019–2024.
- Defense attorneys argue the money reflected a legitimate IEU-Ohio settlement that Randazzo later stole, while prosecutors say it was a bribe preceding his PUCO appointment.
- Former FirstEnergy attorney Mark Hayden told jurors Randazzo’s separate $2.1 million consulting contract was ambiguous and delivered little value, and FirstEnergy recently agreed to pay $275 million in restitution and penalties tied to HB 6.