Legal News

?Kids for Cash? Judges Withdraw Guilty Pleas, Head to Trial

By Ashby Jones

Whoa. There’s rolling the dice, and then there’s rolling the dice. And then there’s what Mark Ciavarella and Michael Conahan (pictured) have decided to do.

You might remember the names Ciavarella and Conahan. They’re the former judges in northeastern Pennsylvania who were charged in a corruption scandal that’s been dubbed “kids for cash.” The allegation: that they pair took $2.6 million in kickbacks in exchange for placing youth offenders in privately owned detention centers. Click here for an earlier LB post on the story, which includes an excerpt from a NYT article that we dubbed “harrowing.” Indeed we stand by that

Well, back in February, the duo pleaded guilty to fraud and tax evasion in a deal with prosecutors that called for a sentence of 87 months, which was well below federal sentencing guidelines. Last month, the plea deal was rejected by federal judge Edward Kosik. Kosik determined that the pair had failed to live up to the terms of their plea agreement.

Yesterday, the judges withdrew their plea agreements. The two will now go to trial, at the risk of having to serve a much longer sentence. Click here for the article from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

“Under the law, right now, he is not convicted of any crime,” said Ciavarella’s attorney, Al Flora. “He is entitled to the constitutional presumption of innocence. I would hope and expect that all people, including members of the public, respect the constitutional rights to which he’s entitled.”

Philip Gelso, Conahan’s attorney, declined comment.

Marsha Levick, an attorney for the Philadelphia-based Juvenile Law Center, which represents youths in a lawsuit against the judges, told the Post-Gazette she doesn’t believe the withdrawal of the guilty pleas will affect the civil case.

“I think it’s very nice that they exercised their right to withdraw their plea, and that they have counsel, and that they will proceed to trial, and I note, in passing, that such rights were denied to children in Luzerne County,” she said.

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on August 25, 2009 (boomark / email).