Legal News

Reporter's Notebook: Powell a King-Sized Presence on Witness Stand

By Brian Harris

By Leo Strupczewski
Of the Legal Staff

Robert J. Powell's nearly two hours on the witness stand at Mark Ciavarella?s federal racketeering trial Tuesday was highly eventful.

And since The Legal's story could only covered a small portion of the proceedings, this blog post -- a good place to empty the reporter's notebook -- can fill out the picture. This is the sort of material that could show up in later stories or fuel newsroom discussion. Or, it might never appear at all. So, consider yourself lucky. You're "in the know."

First things first: Bob Powell is big. Tall, wide. More tight end than power forward.

So big, in fact, that U.S. District Court Judge for the Middle District of Pennsylvania Edwin Kosik asked Powell as he made his way to the stand whether he was with the Pittsburgh Steelers. Powell seemed to misinterpret the joke as a question and told Kosik he "didn't have a dog in the fight," an obvious reference to the Super Bowl.

Seems Powell figured Kosik was inquisitive of his fandom when others interpreted the question as Kosik joking that Powell could play in the National Football League.

Keeping with appearances, Powell was an unshakable presence. True, he wasn?t cross-examined Tuesday, but his command on the stand was impressive. It fit his size. He was sure of himself and, unprompted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Gordon Zubrod, offered his own views on the morality of Ciavarella's alleged actions. Powell likewise was a natural storyteller. His recollections of meetings with the judges were delivered with a certain polish, but did not seem rehearsed. Jurors likely won?t have a hard time choosing to believe him.

More than Ciavarella, it was fellow former judge Michael T. Conahan whose name seemed to surface the most during Powell's testimony.

Powell met Conahan, who has since pleaded guilty to charges related to the alleged scheme, when the former judge was still serving as a magisterial district justice. It was only through his friendship with Conahan that Powell met Ciavarella.

Powell also tried to paint Ciavarella as the mastermind of the scheme to build a private juvenile detention facility, telling the court that Ciavarella brought up the idea of Powell backing such a place with Gregory Zappala, since the two had done a lot of bond work together.

Zappala became a co-owner in the facility but has not been charged with any wrongdoing.

Perhaps most ominous about that portion of Powell's testimony was that his conversation with Ciavarella took place while a jury was deliberating in a case Powell had before the judge. During the time the jury was out, Ciavarella asked Powell and his opposing counsel whether there was an objection to him adjudicating some juveniles while they waited for the jury to reach a verdict. No one objected and Ciavarella sent the attorneys outside the courtroom.

The kids walked in, Powell said, and some were in shackles. One reminded him of his son, he said, and when Ciavarella asked him about the proceedings afterward, he told him the county needed a new facility.

Ciavarella told Powell that maybe after the trial was over, they could ?get together to figure out [how to] help the county."

"I thought, sure, that'd be a great thing to do," Powell said.

The day's testimony ended when a juror's cell phone rang.

Kosik has previously said testimony would wrap up at 3 p.m. and the phone rang around 2:50. Kosik looked at Zubrod, who was still questioning Powell on direct examination, and told him it was "a sign from God."

Full post as published by The Legal Intelligencer Blog on February 10, 2011 (boomark / email).