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AKRON, Ohio (Statehouse News Bureau) — 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…