Former Liberty School District Superintendent Joseph Nohra rejected a plea deal Thursday and will head to trial next week.

Nohra is accused of improperly recording secret videos of five school employees back in April and May of 2018. Investigators claimed that Nohra installed hidden cameras inside carbon monoxide detectors above the employees desks, and then attempted to use the secret recordings of those private conversations. 

He was charged in May of 2021 with six felony counts of interception of wire, oral, or electronic communication, and five misdemeanor counts of interfering with civil rights.

At the time, Nohra issued a statement through his attorney David Betras claiming that the cameras were part of a theft-in-office investigation of a school employee. The statement also claimed that the school board and its legal counsel knew and approved Nohra's investigation. Nohra plead not guilty to the charges.

A civil lawsuit against Nohra was filed by the employees the following July. Nohra and the school board he presided over filed a counter-suit in September of 2021, asking for reparations and the original complaint to be dismissed.

In the criminal case, Nohra was originally set to go to trial in January of 2022. However, in December of 2021, Judge Ronald Rice dismissed all felony charges following a request from Nohra to reconsider a previous ruling denying his motion to dismiss the indictment for Vagueness. The five misdemeanor charges remained.

That wasn't the end of those felony charges for Nohra. The Trumbull County Prosecutor's Office appealed the decision in April of 2022. The Eleventh District Court of Appeals reinstated the case the following September.

Since Nohra rejected Thursday's plea deal, the case will go to trial. It is set to begin in Judge Ronald Rice's courtroom on February 8th at 8:30 a.m.