Pa. judge gets 28 years in 'kids for cash'

[dragon]

Didn't see this posted

SCRANTON, Pa. (AP) - A northeastern Pennsylvania judge was ordered Thursday to spend nearly three decades in prison for his role in a massive bribery scandal that prompted the state's high court to toss thousands of juvenile convictions and left lasting scars on the children who appeared in his courtroom and their hapless families.

Former Luzerne County Judge Mark Ciavarella Jr. was sentenced to 28 years in federal prison for taking a $1 million bribe from the builder of a pair of juvenile detention centers in a case that became known as "kids for cash."

Ciavarella, who denied locking up youths for money, had no reaction as the sentence was announced. From the gallery, which was crowded with family members of some of the children he incarcerated, someone shouted "Woo hoo!"

In the wake of the scandal, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court overturned about 4,000 convictions issued by Ciavarella between 2003 and 2008, saying he violated the constitutional rights of the juveniles, including the right to legal counsel and the right to intelligently enter a plea.

Ciavarella, 61, was tried and convicted of racketeering earlier this year. His attorneys had asked for a "reasonable" sentence in court papers, saying, in effect, that he'd already been punished enough.

"The media attention to this matter has exceeded coverage given to many and almost all capital murders, and despite protestation, he will forever be unjustly branded as the 'Kids for Cash' judge," their sentencing memo said.

Al Flora, Ciavarella's lawyer, called the sentence harsher than expected. The ex-judge surrendered immediately but it was not immediately known where he would serve his time. He plans to appeal both his conviction and sentence.

Ciavarella, in a 15-minute speech before the sentence was handed down, apologized to his family, the Luzerne County bar and the community - and to those juveniles who appeared before him in his court. He called himself a hypocrite who failed to practice what he preached.

"I blame no one but myself for what happened," he said.

Then, in an extraordinary turnabout, Ciavarella attacked the government's case as well as the conclusions of the state Supreme Court and the Interbranch Commission on Juvenile Justice, a state panel that investigated the scandal. Both said Ciavarella engaged in wholesale rights violations over a period of many years.

Ciavarella denied it.

"I did everything I was obligated to do protect these children's rights," he said.

He also criticized Assistant U.S. Attorney Gordon Zubrod for referring to the case as "kids for cash," saying it sank his reputation. (Zubrod said outside court that he doesn't remember ever calling it that.)

"He backdoored me, and I never saw it coming. Those three words made me the personification of evil," Ciavarella said. "They made me toxic and caused a public uproar the likes of which this community has never seen."

In court, Zubrod said Ciavarella had "verbally abused and cruelly mocked children he sent away after violating their rights." He called the ex-judge "vicious and mean-spirited" and asked U.S. District Judge Edwin M. Kosik to punish Ciavarella's "profound evil" with a life sentence.

"The criminal justice system (in Luzerne County) is ruined and will not recover in our lifetimes," Zubrod added.

Federal prosecutors accused Ciavarella and a second judge, Michael Conahan, of taking more than $2 million in bribes from Robert Mericle, the builder of the PA Child Care and Western PA Child Care detention centers, and of extorting hundreds of thousands of dollars from Robert Powell, the facilities' co-owner.

Ciavarella, known for his harsh and autocratic courtroom demeanor, pocketed the cash while filling the beds of the private lockups with children as young as 10, many of them first-time offenders convicted of petty theft and other minor crimes. Ciavarella often ordered youths he had found delinquent to be immediately shackled, handcuffed and taken away without giving them a chance to say goodbye to their families.

"Frankly, I don't think Ciavarella or Conahan themselves really personally cared where the juveniles went, as long as they could use their power to place the juveniles as leverage or control over Mericle and Powell," U.S. Attorney Peter Smith said Thursday.

Speaking of Ciavarella, Smith added: "There's no true remorse and there's a blind unwillingness to admit the overall seriousness of his conduct."

The jury returned a mixed verdict following a February trial, convicting Ciavarella of 12 counts, including racketeering and conspiracy, and acquitting him of 27 counts, including extortion. The guilty verdicts related to a payment of $997,600 from Mericle.

Conahan pleaded guilty last year and awaits sentencing.

Sandy Fonzo, whose son committed suicide last year at the age of 23 after bouncing in and out of Ciavarella's courtroom, said Thursday that justice was done.

"This judge was wrong, what he did to my son, what he did to all of our children, what he did to our families, and today proves that," said Fonzo, who dramatically confronted Ciavarella on the courthouse steps earlier this year.

Susan Mishanski also applauded the sentence. Ciavarella had ordered her son to spend three months in a wilderness camp for scuffling with another kid.

"They did not even tell him where they were taking him. It was like someone kidnapped my son," she said. "It was awful."

Ciavarella and Conahan initially pleaded guilty in February 2009 to honest services fraud and tax evasion in a deal that called for a sentence of more than seven years in prison. But their plea deals were rejected by Kosik, who ruled they had failed to accept responsibility for their actions.

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[Xisiqomelir]

I wish nothing had happened to those children.

Since I can't get that wish, this result will have to do.

[TheFeniX]

The scumfuck who made the bribes is getting a whopping 10-months. They are talking about extending that.... to 18-months. Yea, that'll teach him.....

I've found myself over the years having less and less support for the death penalty, but even in non-murder cases like this I find it hard to not want it to apply. These sacks of shit without remorse destroyed hundreds of lives (driving at least one to suicide) and pocketed hundreds of thousands of dollar (much of it taxpayer money) while doing so. This isn't counting the judge's abuse of the power he was wielding, which I've always been a proponent of harsher penalties for those in the justice system, just like they are harder on cop killers and those who target judges/prosecutors.

But hey, privatize prisons and this is the shit you get. Something not much better than kidnapping.

[SirNitram]

Frankly, the terms need to be longer, in my opinion. Perhaps One month per kid they sent to the lockup falsely. Okay, that's around 333 years, but ten months is far too short.

[The Romulan Republic]

I don't see why life without possibility of parol isn't an option in such cases. The amount of damage to the lives of so many children this man caused is horrible. Aside from the whole undermining of the Justice System.

I also don't see why the guy taking the bribes gets 28 years, but the guy making the bribes gets 10 months.

Still, I'm glad they gave the judge a pretty stiff sentence. Hope he doesn't get paroled early.

[Jaepheth]

Federal prosecutors accused Ciavarella and a second judge, Michael Conahan, of taking more than $2 million in bribes from Robert Mericle, the builder of the PA Child Care and Western PA Child Care detention centers

I looked up this guy and found this:

The United States Department of Justice has announced that real estate mogul Robert Mericle has agreed to plead guilty in connection to the corruption at the Luzerne County courthouse. The 46-year-old is president and CEO of Mericle Commercial Real Estate Services.

According to the paperwork, Mericle knew about the "cash for kids" scheme involving judges Michael Conahan and Mark Ciaveralla. Authorities say the two judges received more than 2 million dollars in connection to the construction of juvenile detention centers. We're told Mericle knew about the crime and didn't reveal it to investigators.

Mericle faces 3 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. He's also agreed to pay more than 2.1 million dollars to fund programs that improve the welfare of children in Luzerne County.

The judge, being the official, does bear more responsibility; but this seems too light a punishment for the guy doing the bribing.

[TheFeniX]

Mericle faces 3 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. He's also agreed to pay more than 2.1 million dollars to fund programs that improve the welfare of children in Luzerne County.

The judge, being the official, does bear more responsibility; but this seems too light a punishment for the guy doing the bribing.

Par for the course: throw dirty money at the justice system in lieu of time served.

I don't know what would be a fair punishment for these types of crime, but, as said, it needs to be extremely punitive for all people involved. At least, as punitive as it would be for people without millions of dollars to throw around or the political connections of being in the justice system.

In this situation, it's was basically a legal kidnapping ring. I personally can't see how a lot of the officers and attorneys involved could sit by idly for so long.

[Kamakazie Sith]

Mericle faces 3 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. He's also agreed to pay more than 2.1 million dollars to fund programs that improve the welfare of children in Luzerne County.

The judge, being the official, does bear more responsibility; but this seems too light a punishment for the guy doing the bribing.

Par for the course: throw dirty money at the justice system in lieu of time served.

I don't know what would be a fair punishment for these types of crime, but, as said, it needs to be extremely punitive for all people involved. At least, as punitive as it would be for people without millions of dollars to throw around or the political connections of being in the justice system.

In this situation, it's was basically a legal kidnapping ring. I personally can't see how a lot of the officers and attorneys involved could sit by idly for so long.

In certain situations I do think money can be a reasonable alternative to imprisonment. However, I also agree it should be extremely punitive. In the case of the rich it should be forfeit of their bank accounts and luxury possessions.

[Skgoa]

Wow, I remember back when that story broke... well, its good to see that such things don't go unpunished.

[Flagg]

The real issue here is the for-profit prisons we have in this country. When no one makes money off of depriving people of their freedoms there is less incentive to do so.

[Darth Wong]

The real issue here is the for-profit prisons we have in this country. When no one makes money off of depriving people of their freedoms there is less incentive to do so.

Another issue is the fact that even though corporations are basically sociopathic, the "evil corporation" line has been made into a figure of mockery and derision, so that people who say bad things about corporations are instantly labeled as hippies and left-wing radicals.

Any corporation would do the same thing if its executives thought they could get away with it. We don't even expect them not to, which is why the executive got a slap on the wrist. We lay the blame on public officials for betraying their trust, but we do not seriously expect corporations to act as anything but sociopaths.

[Flagg]

That's why regulation is so fucking important but in the current US political environment you might as well suggest giving puppies AIDS.

[Gil Hamilton]

Another issue is the fact that even though corporations are basically sociopathic, the "evil corporation" line has been made into a figure of mockery and derision, so that people who say bad things about corporations are instantly labeled as hippies and left-wing radicals.

Any corporation would do the same thing if its executives thought they could get away with it. We don't even expect them not to, which is why the executive got a slap on the wrist. We lay the blame on public officials for betraying their trust, but we do not seriously expect corporations to act as anything but sociopaths.

Interestingly enough, there have been some rebukes at the local level to that for the private prisons. Here in Arizona, the town of Benson rejected funding a for-profit private prison in their town. The reason that it went under is that the guys who turned up to convince the people in charge of such things in the town was so unpleasant that they didn't want to deal with him; basically, the guy was a used car salesman who turned up to tell the people in Benson how much money they could make locking people up, particularly Mexicans who no one was going to fight for.

Other towns bought into it thought and the heavily Republican state government loves the private prison lobby. The infamous S1070 legislation that caused such an uproar was basically word for word put into law based on the draft that was written by the private prison lobby... in order to drum up business. These dirtbags look at the immigration problem and the amount of poor Spanish speakers who are legal and go "Hrmmmm... I could get them locked up in my facility and get the government to pay me a stipend per head... then spend the bare minimum in taking care of them and pocket the difference! I could make a fortune off human misery! Whoo hoo!"