davidwiz Posted February 13, 2009 Share Posted February 13, 2009 It is situations like this that seriously call into question my choice of profession. Two former Luzerne County, Pennsylvania judges, Mark Ciavarella and Michael Conahan pleaded guilty to federal fraud charges yesterday. The fraud charges stem from some $2.6 million in kickbacks paid by Mid-Atlantic Youth Services Corp.'s PA Child Care, LLC and Western PA Child Care, LLC youth detention centers to the judges from 2003 to 2006 in exchange for the judges sentencing youths to those specific centers. In many cases, lawyers were not provided to the defendants during court hearings, despite the United States Supreme Court's In re Gault decision, which mandated that all juvenile defendants must be afforded the same rights as an adult in a criminal proceeding, including the right to have an attorney present. Not surprising, PA Child Care and Western PA Child Care are claiming to be the "victim" and claim that the judges forced them to pay the money. However, in 2002, Conahan shut down the Luzerne County-run youth detention center and helped PA Child Care and Western PA Child Care secure multi-million dollar contracts with the County. Some of these contracts paid based on the number of youths locked up. One 20-year contract worth approximately $58 million with PA Child Care was later canceled by the County. According to this AP article, various youth-advocacy groups consistently complained about Ciavarella's and Conahan's harsh sentences (such as sentencing a kid to 3 months for creating a Myspace page making fun of an assistant principal). Apparently, during the 2002 - 2006 time period, the PA statewide rate of juvenile defendants sentenced to detention was 1:10, with Ciavarella, it was 1:4. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court finally got a clue and removed Ciavarella and Conahan from the bench on January 26, 2008, shortly after they were charged. Now, all of the cases adjudicated by Ciavarella and Conahan are being reviewed to see if the sentences should be overturned and the record expunged. Until June 2008, Robert J. Powell, a Pennsylvania attorney, was a co-owner of PA Child Care and Western PA Child Care. No word yet on whether federal criminal charges will be brought against PA Child Care, Western PA Child Care, Mid-Atlantic Youth Services Corp., or Powell (or if he will be subject to attorney disciplinary proceedings). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeneralChang Posted February 13, 2009 Share Posted February 13, 2009 A sad miscarriage of justice... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimmyZip Posted February 13, 2009 Share Posted February 13, 2009 I have several friends who chose the law as their profession. They say the same thing, that these things irk them to no end as it gives their profession a bad name. I wonder if these guys will ever see the inside of a facilty themselves? Probably not, and therein lies the final injustice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
p99shooter Posted February 13, 2009 Share Posted February 13, 2009 I grew up int Luzerne County, Wilkes-Barre to be specific. This is sad. I heard growing up there that politics was infested with nepotism and corruption. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary1911A1 Posted February 13, 2009 Share Posted February 13, 2009 I have several friends who chose the law as their profession. They say the same thing, that these things irk them to no end as it gives their profession a bad name.I wonder if these guys will ever see the inside of a facilty themselves? Probably not, and therein lies the final injustice. I agree. Fines and disbarement doesn't matter to some people when there a lot of money to be made. Put them in Prison for as long as they put each child that didn't need to go to detention and some of this stuff will stop. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davidwiz Posted February 13, 2009 Author Share Posted February 13, 2009 I agree. Fines and disbarement doesn't matter to some people when there a lot of money to be made. Put them in Prison for as long as they put each child that didn't need to go to detention and some of this stuff will stop. The problem is that, IMHO, a lot of bad attorneys only get a slap on the wrist, it is very rare to see an attorney be disbarred. There are countless cases in NJ and PA where attorneys stole money from their clients only to be suspended for a little while and then be allowed to get their license back. I sure that the PA Disciplinary Board got tons of complaints about these two bad judges, but did nothing. In my experience, most complaints made to attorney disciplinary boards are either outright ignored or dismissed without any investigation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shopgun Posted February 13, 2009 Share Posted February 13, 2009 Wow, sounds like something right out of a John Grisham novel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vluc Posted February 13, 2009 Share Posted February 13, 2009 guess the party. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe4d Posted February 14, 2009 Share Posted February 14, 2009 (edited) delete Edited February 14, 2009 by Joe4d Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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