Pa. judges plead not guilty in racketeering case
SCRANTON, Pa. — Two former Pennsylvania judges implicated in a “kids-for-cash” scandal on Tuesday pleaded not guilty to federal racketeering charges.
Former Luzerne County judges Mark Ciavarella Jr. and Michael Conahan are accused of taking millions of dollars in payments related to the construction of two juvenile detention facilities.
They had agreed to plead guilty in February to honest services fraud and tax evasion in a deal with prosecutors that called for 87-month prison sentences, far below federal guidelines.
But a federal judge rejected the deal last month, saying Conahan, 57, and Ciavarella, 59, hadn’t fully accepted responsibility for the crimes. They switched their pleas to not guilty, and prosecutors secured a 48-count indictment that includes racketeering, bribery and extortion charges.
At their arraignment Tuesday, prosecutors also asked U.S. Magistrate Judge Thomas M. Blewitt to tighten bail conditions for both former judges, claiming they had tried to protect assets and are now more likely to flee.
Both are free on bail and restricted to traveling within northeastern Pennsylvania. Prosecutors wanted them also to be electronically monitored. Blewitt denied the request.
Ciavarella and Conahan declined comment after the arraignment.
Prosecutors allege the two judges participated in a scheme in which Conahan, the northeastern Pennsylvania county’s former president judge, shut down the county-owned juvenile detention center in 2002 and signed an agreement with PA Child Care LLC to send youth offenders to its new facility near Wilkes-Barre.
Ciavarella, who presided over juvenile court, sent youths to the detention center and to a sister facility in western Pennsylvania while he was taking payments, according to prosecutors.
The scandal led the state Supreme Court to overturn hundreds of convictions on grounds that Ciavarella violated the constitutional rights of youths who appeared in his courtroom without lawyers for hearings that lasted just a few minutes. More convictions are under review.
Former PA Child Care owner Robert Powell, a lawyer, pleaded guilty July 1 to paying kickbacks to the judges. Prominent construction company owner Robert K. Mericle, who built the detention centers, pleaded guilty earlier this month to a charge of withholding information of a crime related to the millions of dollars in payments. Powell and Mericle have agreed to cooperate with prosecutors.
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October 1st, 2009 at 3:22 pm
[michaelcmurawski@yahoo.com]
October 1, 2009
Dear All:
The City of San Francisc has gone kooky. … Well, kookier than it normaly has been: A PERSON resorted to eating a dead pigeon for lack of food. People sleep on the street nightly. The Mayor Gavin Newsom has stated that the District Attorney Kamala Harris and former San Francisco Police Department “Chief” Heather Fong know the IDENTITY of the PERSON who MURDERED a 17 YEAR-OLD YOUNG MAN Aubrey Abrakasa in 2006, yet no arrest has occurred and the ALLEGED PERPETRATOR REFUSES to SURRENDER, so the Mayor, the D.A. and the Police act with impunity in San Francisco. Maniac town.
For your consideration:
Admit, BARACK OBAMA, that MICHAEL CHRISTIAN MURAWSKI HEREBY ORDERS BARACK HUssEIN SATZ OBAMA to ETUDIER le SUIVANT, bonne poire:
Admit, JOE BIDEN, that ALBERT EINSTEIN WAS a NOTORIOUSLY SHAMELESS PLAGIARIST, VICE-PRESIDENT of BARACK OBAMA’s Ree-DICK-YOO-lush BARACK HUssEIN SATZ OBAMA-LAND JOSEPH BIDEN.
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Admit, ANGELA MERKEL, that MICHAEL CHRISTIAN MURAWSKI HEREBY INFORMS and RE-INFORMS EARTH that the BUNDESREPUBLIK DEUTSCHLAND IS FOREVER ABOLISHED, dumkopf que tu es.
Herr Kurt Block: Te duroc, prestupnik.
Foe real.
Semper Veritas. Semper Fidelis. Semper Generis.
True Blue 4 Life
Rejoice always. 1 Thessalonians 5:16
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Admit, Mr. CONGER, that SAN FRANCISCO PUBLIC DEFENDER Mr. CONGER ADMITTED to the ENTIRE JURY of TWELVE HONEST and CIVIC-MINDED PEOPLE in the CASE People v. Holmes in Judge Jeffrey Tauber’s DEPARTMENT 622 on OCTOBER 1, 2009, that Mr. Conger’s SISTER HAD a DRIVING UNDER the INFLUENCE CONVICTION that SHE KEPT SECRET from SAN FRANCISCO PUBLIC DEFENDER Mr. CONGER for a YEAR.
Ms. Conger: I apologize to you, the jury and Mr. Holmes that Mr. Conger thought disclosing your DUI was relevant to his client’s defense. Mr. Conger: Do you care to apologize before the jury returns its verdict.
And what is with your Office, SAN FRANCISCO PUBLIC DEFENDER JEFFREY “JEFF” ADACHI, FORCING DEFENDANTS to TAKE the STAND WHEN JEFF ADACHI’s “DEPUTIES” WILL NOT PUT the INVESTIGATORS on the STAND, Sir??