Jury trial set for sexual imposition case against Lorain County Recorder

ELYRIA — A visiting judge will allow a recorded conversation between Lorain County Recorder Mike Doran and the boyfriend of the woman who accused him of groping her as part of Doran's jury trial next week. Doran, 42, of Elyria, pleaded not guilty to sexual imposition, a misdemeanor, based on an alleged incident at Doran's home on April 25. His jury trial is set to start 8:30 a.m. Wednesday. Judge Patrick Carroll ruled Thursday on a recording from early May of that year of a portion of a phone call between Doran and the alleged victim's then-boyfriend that she brought as evidence to Elyria police when she reported the incident. The recording was not played during a final pretrial hearing on Thursday. Doran's attorney, Benjamin Kleidman, argued the partial conversation was potentially more prejudicial due to how it was recorded and that a portion of the conversation was omitted from the recording. The recording reportedly starts when Doran begins to speak and omits a portion of the 24-minute conversation between the two men before it started. Prosecutor John Reulbach Jr. said Doran will be testifying and can speak to any portion of the conversation omitted from the recording. He said the victim and her ex-boyfriend testified during a suppression hearing on Feb. 11 that there were technical issues in getting the start and end of the conversation on the recording. Carroll disagreed with Kleidman's characterization that the alleged victim was curating a portion of the conversation with the recording, as that was contrary to what she testified to last month and was not disputed in court at the time. The attorneys also briefly discussed whether Reulbach plans to call the alleged victim's ex-boyfriend to the stand, as he previously asserted his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination during the Feb. 11 hearing. Reulbach said the man must offer evidence to show he is in jeopardy of incriminating himself to invoke his amendment right. He said he believed the ex-boyfriend may have something going on "outside the courtroom" to give him second thoughts about testifying against his former friend. Prior to the alleged April 25 incident, the victim and her then-boyfriend were friends of the Dorans. Contact Carissa Woytach at (440) 329-7245 or cwoytach@chroniclet.com.