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The 10th District Court of Appeals in Columbus last week heard oral arguments in the case of a Cleveland Heights man who wants to see the personal emails of the man who more than a decade ago had tried to prosecute him in a mortgage fraud case.
Anthony Viola, who was convicted and sentenced to about 10 years in federal prison, has appealed an Ohio Court of Claims decision that refused to release the private emails from the account of Daniel Kasaris, now assistant Ohio Attorney General and former assistant prosecutor in Cuyahoga County.
Kasaris was the lead special prosecutor in the 2018 corruption case that sent ex-Niles Mayor Ralph Infante to prison. He also tried Viola's mortgage fraud case in 2011 in Cuyahoga County court, but Viola was acquitted.
Now, Viola has claimed Kasaris is using his private Yahoo email account for prosecutorial business, and he wants the appeals court to reverse the Court of Claims' decision and make these emails public.
In the Aug. 25 oral argument, Viola, who is representing himself, pointed to on-the-record testimony from Kasaris admitting to using his Yahoo email to conduct official business.
Assistant Cuyahoga County prosecutor Jake Elliotts told the 10th District judges Viola did not meet his burden of proof that the court erred in its public records decision.
Viola, in court briefs, also wanted the appeals court to forward his claims about Kasaris to an ethics panel with the Ohio Supreme Court.