PENNSYLVANIA JUDGE SENTENCED TO LIFE FOR RACKETEERING IN “JUVI-FOR-CASH” DEAL

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Scranton, Pennsylvania, United States of America (Free-Press-Release.com) August 15, 2011 --

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PENNSYLVANIA JUDGE SENTENCED TO LIFE FOR RACKETEERING IN “JUVI-FOR-CASH” DEAL

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August 15th, 2011, Scranton PA: A former Pennsylvania county judge, Mark Ciavarella, 61, was sentenced to 28 years in a federal prison Thursday after being found guilty of racketeering, money laundering, and conspiracy by a federal jury. Mr. Ciavarella was found to have conspired with a Pennsylvania lawyer-developer, Robert Powell, to build new juvenile detention centers and then drive juveniles to the centers via false convictions. Ciavarella is believed to have sentenced thousands of young people to these detention facilities often for long stays for relatively minor infractions. His accomplice Mr Powell pleaded guilty to failing to report a felony and aiding in covering up tax fraud. Apparently, a second judge Michael Conahan, pleaded guilty last year to racketeering in connection with the case. Full WSJ story on link: http://www.free-press-release.com/news-pennsylvania-judge-sentenced-to-life-for-racketeering-in-juvi-for-cash-deal-1313426670.html

In 2009, two years after the allegations surfaced, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court ordered all of former Judge Ciavarella’s decisions over a five year period involving children in detention to be vacated. Juvi’s ranging from as young as 10 years old to up to 18 would have their records expunged of the sentences. The US Attorney Peter Smith said the 28 year sentence was appropriate given the judge’s abuse of his position of trust. “Mr. Ciavarella…inflicted a deep and lasting wound on the community he vowed to service”.

Judicial Reform Now called the verdict “a breakthrough” in the Judicial Corruption scandal that has swept the country. “Here is a judge who clearly used his authority to sentence innocent children to juvi centers which he profited from, a truly evil scheme of monstrous proportion. The hope here is that the US Attorney investigated these crimes and found abuse of power.”

JRN Founder Kathryn Jordan said she hoped that more investigations of judicial misconduct would be made especially around “Case Fixing”. Case fixing occurs when a judge abuses their judicial power and authority to manipulate the outcome of a case for illicit, often economic-pollitical agendas.. Motives range from "pollitical" (decimation and "roll back" of Civil RIghts advances), to "economic" (judges frequently parse favors to powerful corporations who they expect will reciprocate the favor at a future date when opportunities arise for judicial advancement, or in "under the table" cash deals) to "practical". In many schemes, Corporations who have been hit with large verdicts are literally able to ‘buy” their way out. Other "economic" approaches involve “fixing” a case for a favorable ‘settlement” early in the case before any discovery is heard, or outright dismissal of a meritorious Complainnt that should have survived "sua sponte" review on some trumped- up technicallity. " Finally, judges will "fix" cases for "practical" reasons, including vetting dockets of cases they do not want to try. Given that these cases are usually Pro Se and invoke Civl RIghts and Due Process claims, they are also considered "political". Virtually all "Case Fixing" involves Conversion. Most instances of case fixing involve a combination of economic, political and practical motives.

“We fully expect there to be more investigations of judges in the future as more conspiracies to “fix” cases are exposed. The appellate courts are playing an increasing role in these schemes where bona fide jury verdicts and final judgments are being arbitrarily reversed when the Appellate Court never had authority to review the appeal in the first place”, a JRN spokesperson said. ‘One need only examine the discrepancy in affirmance rates on "job" related cases between individual and corporate appeals and you can see that the appeals courts are playing fast and loose with the rules and laws to give employers an advantage not provided under Appellate Law”.

JRN encourages anyone who knows of an act of judicial misconduct to report it to the Judicial Conduct Commission (a requirement, no action wll be taken however), the Attorney General, and the Justice Department. Further, any judge who knows they have abused their discretion should immediately rectify such abuses in order to mitigate any damage and avoid Obstruction of Justice charges. Any judge, lawyer, clerk or corporate client who is aware of acts of judicial or attorney misconduct or has participated in such a schenme should notify the appropriate authorities as soon as possible. These complaints are anonymous and protected as a matter of law. "Only well documented Complaints will be investigated, " JRN urged. "Filing with the JCC is a mere formality. They do not take complaints against judges seriously even when documented extensively".

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case fixing     judicial misconduct     Judicial Reform Now     justice department     Mark Ciavarella     Obstruction of Justice     racketeering     US Attorney Peter Smith