Pennsylvania Judge Sentenced For 28 Years For Selling Kids to the Prison System

[BrownDoggie]

88. I'm a DU noob (so please be nice!)

Actually, there have been some recent developments in the case. Ciavarella (of course) appealed his conviction; the case was argued in front of the appellate court on Nov. 14, 2012, with Judge Julio Fuentes delivering the Court's opinion on May 27, 2013. In all, there weren't very many changes that came of the appeal, with the exception that one of the counts (7) was vacated. For those interested (and can decipher legalese), a link to the Opinion is below. It's not the shortest opinion, but is a pretty good read overall.

Thankfully, the Circuit Court took this case seriously, and spared no disdain for the former judge. An excerpt from page 3 of the Opinion gives an inkling of Justice Fuentes' view of the case background:

"Ciavarella and his fellow judge, Michael Conahan, were accused of receiving over $2.8 million in three years from a commercial builder, Robert Mericle, and an attorney and businessman, Robert Powell, in exchange for helping to construct and operate juvenile detention centers and placing juvenile offenders there."

"Over the course of several years, Ciavarella committed hundreds of juveniles to detention centers co-owned by Powell, including many who were not represented by counsel, without informing the juveniles or their families of his conflict of interest. By the summer of 2008, Ciavarella and Conahan, aware that they were under criminal investigation, met with Mericle and Powell to collaborate on their stories, discuss how to mitigate the effects of damaging witnesses, and encourage the destruction of records. Unbeknownst to them, Powell was wearing a recording device during these meetings, exposing Ciavarella and Conahan's efforts to obstruct justice."

Section 'F' on page 43 is where it starts to get good. Ciavarella argues the Court's "Sufficiency of the Evidence" against him; he challenges the Court's ruling on his convictions regarding RICO and SOL among others.
http://www.ca3.uscourts.gov/opinarch/113277p.pdf
http://www.ca3.uscourts.gov/opinarch/113277p.pdf

What a great example people like Ciavarella and Conahan are setting for so many who already have justifiable mistrust for our judicial system...