The trial of two former executives with FirstEnergy is at the halfway point, more than a month after it began in January in Akron. The prosecution rested on Thursday, and the defense began its case Friday.
The defense for former CEO Chuck Jones and former VP Michael Dowling started with Jason Rafield, who their lawyers claim wanted to chair the Public Utilities Commission over Sam Randazzo, who became chair in 2019.
Coming up as a defense witness on Wednesday is Republican U.S. Sen. Jon Husted, who was lieutenant governor when House Bill 6, the billion-dollar bailout for FirstEnergy’s nuclear power plants, became law in 2019. Prosecutors are trying to prove Jones and Dowling authorized the $4.3 million FirstEnergy has admitted paying as a bribe to Randazzo for favorable treatment. Lawyers for Jones and Dowling have said the money was a settlement with clients represented by Randazzo, and that he stole it. Randazzo was charged with them but died by suicide in 2024.
Jones and Dowling also face federal charges in the bribery scandal.
Randazzo was charged along with Jones and Dowling but died by suicide in 2024. Jones and Dowling are also facing federal racketeering charges. Former House speaker Larry Householder and former Ohio GOP chair Matt Borges were convicted on similar charges in federal court in 2023 in connection with pushing HB 6 through the legislature. Householder, who's in prison on a 20-year sentence, is also facing state charges of misuse of campaign money and ethics violations. FirstEnergy struck a plea deal on federal charges in 2021, paying $230 million in that agreement. In 2022, the company settled a lawsuit with shareholders for $180 million. In 2024, FirstEnergy agreed to a $20 million deal to settle the state's criminal investigation of the company. In November the utility was ordered by the PUCO to pay a $250 million penalty to Ohio customers.
The trial is expected to last two months. The Summit County courthouse is about a half a mile from where FirstEnergy's headquarters used to be located on South Main Street.
