The Conservative Cave
Current Events => The DUmpster => Topic started by: thundley4 on February 08, 2011, 09:46:14 PM
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madinmaryland (1000+ posts) Tue Feb-08-11 08:57 PM
Original message
Former Judge Is on Trial in ‘Cash for Kids’ Scheme
SCRANTON, Pa. — A former Pennsylvania judge went on trial in federal court on Tuesday, charged with racketeering, bribery and extortion in what prosecutors say was a $2.8 million scheme to send juvenile delinquents to privately run prisons.
The case against the judge, Mark A. Ciavarella Jr., who presided in Luzerne County, drew national attention for what legal experts say is a dangerous gap in the juvenile justice systems of many states — children appearing in court without lawyers.
Mr. Ciavarella, now 60, sentenced thousands of young people, funneling them into two private detention centers prosecutors say were run by his friends who slipped him payments in a “cash for kids†scheme.
Few of the young people had lawyers, a chronic problem that legal scholars say makes guilty pleas more likely, saddling them with criminal records. The state has since expunged more than 6,000 records of youths Mr. Ciavarella sentenced, some for crimes as small as stealing a can of nutmeg.
Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/09/us/09judge.html?_r=1&...
I hope the SOB spends the rest of his life in jail.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x376680
Lot of hatred for this judge but no mention of his party affiliation .
Mark A. Ciavarella, Jr.[1]
Born March 3, 1950
Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania
Alma mater King's College
Duquesne Law School
Occupation Former President Judge[2]
Years active 1996-2009
Successor Hon. Chester B. Muroski[3]
Political party Democratic
Spouse Cindy (Baer) Ciavarella
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Ciavarella
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This is just now coming to trial? I thought I'd heard of this case quite a long time ago. Oh well, State courts are like that sometimes.
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This is just now coming to trial? I thought I'd heard of this case quite a long time ago. Oh well, State courts are like that sometimes.
Just waiting on the right judge to try the case.
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This is just now coming to trial? I thought I'd heard of this case quite a long time ago. Oh well, State courts are like that sometimes.
This is a federal case.
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This is a federal case.
It's old enough that one of the Law & Order shows had a similar story line a while back.
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Ain't it funny how they never report the affiliation unless it's a Repub?!
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Ain't it funny how they never report the affiliation unless it's a Repub?!
And if the political party is not reported, it's a dead giveaway that the offender is a Democrat.
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Ain't it funny how they never report the affiliation unless it's a Repub?!
I had to search to find out he was a Dem. None of the news articles I found mentioned it, only the wiki article did.