Staff photo /Allie Vugrincic Trumbull County Commissioner Niki Frenchko, right, appears with her attorney, David Betras, at a news conference on the steps of the Trumbull County Courthouse on Friday afternoon. The state of Ohio motioned to dismiss a misdemeanor charge against Frenchko for disrupting a lawful meeting.

WARREN — Trumbull County Commissioner Niki Frenchko and her attorney, David Betras, on Friday threatened to take legal action against Trumbull County Sheriff Paul Monroe, Commissioners Frank Fuda and Mauro Cantalamessa, and “all government employees, including staff, who use the legal system to deprive Niki of her constitutional rights.

“Whether they be a deputy, or a clerk, or whoever, we’re going to hold them accountable for this egregious violation of her First Amendment rights,” Betras said.

He said he expects to file a civil rights suit in federal court within a month.

Betras and Frenchko appeared for a news conference on the steps of the Trumbull County courthouse Friday afternoon after a visiting prosecutor from Portage County on Thursday asked a visiting judge to dismiss a misdemeanor charge against Frenchko in Warren Municipal Court. The motion cited “insufficient evidence to proceed at this time.”

The judge would have to accept the motion before the charge — disturbing a lawful meeting — officially is dismissed.

Frenchko was arrested in July for allegedly disrupting a regular commissioner’s meeting.

At the behest of Fuda, the commissioners clerk was reading a letter from county Sheriff Paul Monroe asking Frenchko to apologize for allegations she made at an earlier meeting. When Frenchko spoke over the clerk, Commissioner Mauro Cantalamessa said she was being disruptive. A sheriff’s deputy also said Frenchko was disruptive, then two deputies led her from the room.

Frenchko claimed the arrest was a “set up.”

Betras on Friday reasserted Frenchko’s arrest was a “politically motivated attack on democracy.

“(Frenchko) and I are not of the same political party, but I’m American before I’m a Democrat, and in America, we do not arrest our political opponents. If we go down that slope, we’re in a lot of trouble,” Betras said.

He and Frenchko claimed evidence of the sheriff’s and commissioners’ alleged collusion, including text messages, “has been destroyed already.”

Fuda and Cantalamessa did not return messages seeking comment. Monroe could not be reached for comment.

Betras said he plans to seek restitution for the legal fees Frenchko has incurred and a justification for what happened.

“She was led out of the room in handcuffs … and booked and her mug shot spread all over the place. That’s damaging to anyone’s reputation,” Betras said.

During the news conference, a man who said he was there on behalf of the women whom Frenchko “walks all over on a daily basis” interjected several times. Frenchko mentioned the man was the spouse of someone on the commissioners staff.

Eventually, Betras called the man an “idiot,” and the man called Betras a “political hack,” among other things.