Gov. Mike DeWine and Sen. Jon Husted’s names are among the potential witnesses that two former top FirstEnergy executives may call to testify in their defense at their criminal trial later this month, according to a new court filing.
Lawyers for Chuck Jones and Mike Dowling, who are facing state charges in connection to the House Bill 6 corruption scandal, filed a new copy of a witness list on Tuesday in Summit County Common Pleas Court.
The document contains 58 names – including DeWine’s and Husted’s, as well as Michael Hall, a former DeWine chief of staff.
The filing is a required disclosure from the defense that’s meant to allow prosecutors time to prepare for the trial, which is scheduled to begin Jan. 26. It also offers an outline of what the defense’s case might look like. Other people on the list include state criminal investigators, former FirstEnergy officials, officials at the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio, which regulates FirstEnergy and other utilities, and Ray Gifford, a former chairman of the Colorado Public Utilities Commission.
DeWine and Husted’s names also appeared on a previous witness list the defense team filed in June 2024. Their inclusion on the new list shows that as the trial nears, it remains a live possibility that two top state Republicans will be pulled into the courtroom over a notorious state bribery scandal during an election year in which Husted is running to keep his job.
But it’s not a sure thing that every name on the list will be called to testify. Lawyers sometimes change their plans for witnesses mid-trial, or also may make public extra names as a tactic to throw off the other side in their preparations – among other reasons that people on the list may not end up getting called into the courtroom.
Signal has reached out to Jones and Dowling’s lawyer, John McCaffrey, as well as to spokespeople for DeWine and Husted seeking comment for this story.
In December, Signal asked Husted whether he expected he’d be called to testify in January.
“I don’t have any idea,” Husted said, adding, “I’m not going to speculate on things that are just out there in the future.”
Recapping the FirstEnergy case
State prosecutors say that Jones and Dowling orchestrated a $4.3 million bribe in January 2019 to Sam Randazzo, just before he took a top state job regulating FirstEnergy and other state utilities. DeWine made the decision to hire Randazzo while Husted served at the time as DeWine’s lieutenant governor.
State Attorney General Dave Yost, a Republican, filed charges against Jones, Dowling and Randazzo in February 2024, accusing them of racketeering, bribery, money laundering and other crimes.
Jones and Dowling have said the payment wasn’t a bribe, but a legitimate settlement of a consulting agreement Randazzo had with the company. Randazzo also denied wrongdoing, but since has died by suicide.
The state charges are an outgrowth of the federal investigation into the 2019 passage of House Bill 6, an energy law that bailed out two Ohio nuclear plants owned by a former FirstEnergy subsidiary. That case resulted in jury convictions and prison sentences for House Speaker Larry Householder and Matt Borges, a lobbyist.
Jones and Dowling also face federal charges in a separate case. Householder also faces state charges separate from the federal case that sent him to prison.
Here is the filing. Note, we have redacted personal addresses from the document.