Mark Arthur Ciavarella Jr. (born March 3, 1950) was a prisoner and former Presiding Judge of the Luzerne County Court of Common Pleas in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania involved, along with fellow judge Michael Conahan, in the scandal "Children for cash" on in 2008.
In August 2011, Ciavarella was sentenced to 28 years in federal prison for her involvement in the Kids for Cash scandal.
Video Mark Ciavarella
Biography
Ciavarella is a lifelong resident of Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, who grew up in the eastern part of the city and attended St. Peter's College. Mary. After graduating from the local King's College he attended the Duquesne University Law Faculty, receiving his law degree in 1975. Ciavarella entered private legal practice, became a partner in Lowery, Ciavarella and Rogers. From 1976 to 1978 he was a city lawyer and then from 1978 to 1995 he served as a lawyer for the city's zoning council. In 1995 he ran for a judge in Luzerne County on a Democratic ticket and was elected for ten years. He was re-elected for a second ten-year term in 2005. Ciavarella is also active in several civil and Catholic organizations. She is married to former Cindy Baer and the couple has three children. They separated on September 15, 2010, and in May 2013 he filed for divorce. scandal
Maps Mark Ciavarella
"Child-to-cash"
Ciavarella pleaded guilty on February 13, 2009, pursuant to a plea agreement, to federal charges of honest fraud, wire fraud and tax evasion in connection with receiving $ 2.6 million in bribes from Robert Powell and Robert Mericle, co-owners and respective builders, of two PA educational facilities for individual children, who are seeking profit. In return for this bribe, Ciavarella punishes children to extend juvenile prison terms for the least possible offense of mocking the principal on Myspace, entering without permission in an empty building, and snatching a DVD from Wal-mart. More specifically, the alleged crime is: a conspiracy to deprive the public of the "intangible right of honest service", or corruption, and conspiracy to deceive the United States by not reporting revenues to the Internal Revenue Service. Ciavarella submitted his resignation to Governor Ed Rendell on January 23, 2009, before the official publication of the indictment.
The application agreement calls for Ciavarella to serve up to seven years in prison, pay a fine and compensation, and accept liability for crimes. However, Ciavarella argued that there was a connection between the teenage sentence he gave and the bribes he received. Partly because of this refusal, on July 30, 2009, Judge Edwin M. Kosik of the Federal District Court in Scranton, Pennsylvania rejected the plea agreement. He decides that Ciavarella continues to deny that there is a 'quid pro quo' between receipt of money and his imprisonment against adolescents, instead characterizing the money as a "seeker fee" even though what Judge Kosik feels is the weight of government evidence.. The lawyers for both judges filed a motion asking for a review of the judge's rejection of the plea agreement. The motion was rejected on August 24, and Ciavarella and Conahan withdrew their guilty plea, which resulted in the case being brought to justice.
On September 9, 2009, a federal grand jury in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania returned 48 counts against Ciavarella and Conahan, which included extortion, fraud, money laundering, extortion, bribery, and federal tax violations. Both judges were dragged into the indictment on September 15, 2009. Ciavarella and Conahan pleaded not guilty to a 48-count charge, and remained free on bail of one million dollars, even though federal prosecutors assured them that they had to be resurrected because they now face the possibility of a long jail time larger and that there is evidence of their efforts to protect assets.
On February 18, 2011, a jury in federal court found Ciavarella guilty of extortion. The accusation comes from Ciavarella who received $ 997,000 in illegal payments from Robert Mericle, PA real estate developer Child Care, and attorney Robert Powell, one of the owners of the facility. Ciavarella is also on trial for 38 other indictments including receiving many payments from Mericle and Powell as well as tax evasion.
On August 11, 2011, Ciavarella was sentenced to 28 years in federal prison. On May 24, 2013, the Third Circuit Court of Appeal vacated one charge against Ciavarella, but upheld all other allegations, as well as his sentence. The Third Circuit refuses to reconsider on July 24, 2013. The Supreme Court, which rarely accepts such cases, refuses to hear the call in 2014, although Ciavarella can propose a post-conviction aid movement before the US District Court within a year. With good manners, he can be released in less than 24 years, when he will be 85 years old. Ciavarella initially served his sentence at the Federal Penitentiary, Pekin in Pekin, Illinois.
The earliest projected release date is December 30, 2035. He is now a prisoner # 15008-067 at the Federal Penitentiary, Ashland in Ashland, Kentucky.
On January 9, 2018, federal judge Christopher C. Conner revoked Civarella's conviction for extortion, a conspiracy to extort, and a conspiracy to launder money on appeal. Conner upheld Civarella's opinion that his lawyer failed to file a restrictive claim on the allegations. He ordered a new trial for such matters, but let the perpetrators of honest fraud services â € <â €
Ciavarella is a defendant in a class action lawsuit filed by the Children's Legal Center on behalf of the teenagers convicted by him even though not represented by lawyers or informed of their rights. He has moved to refuse this lawsuit because it relates to him based on impunity. He was also named as a defendant in three other lawsuits, however, the four lawsuits have been consolidated into a major class action suit filed in June and later amended at the end of August 2009.
The plaintiffs, in a court filing of 75 pages on September 9, 2009, argue that Ciavarella and Conahan's actions should not be "fully protected by absolute immunity or legislative immunity", because their actions transcend their judicial and administrative obligations.
Review of court decisions
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court, using the rarely used power of "King's Bench jurisdiction," appointed Senior Judge Arthur Grim as a special teacher to review all of Ciavarella's teenage sentences. On March 26, 2009, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court accepted Grim's recommendation and dumped hundreds of Civarella teen convictions on the grounds that the defendants' rights had been violated.
In early 2009, the daily newspaper Wilkes-Barre The Citizens' Voice accused Judge Ciavarella of improperly concealing a conflict of interest when he made a $ 3,5 million defamation against paper, and he moved to have a case the. reopened. The Pennsylvania High Court appointed Lehigh County President William H. Platt to conduct a hearing on the matter. After two days of testimony that July, Justice Platt recommended that the verdict be vacated and a new trial be conducted. His recommendations are based in part on the fact that Ciavarella admits he wrongly led the case involving client Robert J. Powell, an attorney who paid Ciavarella and Conahan over $ 770,000 in bribes.
In June 2009, lawyers from Laputka, Bayless, Ecker & amp; Cohn, a Hazleton law firm, filed a $ 3.4 million law prosecuting law and hopes to complete a record to show that Ciavarella should not lead the case and should resign because of his relationship with Powell, who is an opposing lawyer.
In early August 2009, the state Supreme Court ordered Luzerne County District Judge Chester Muroski to review the land dispute case dismissed by Ciavarella to determine whether the verdict was contaminated. First National Community Bank lends Ciavarella $ 848,000 and Conahan sits on the bank's board of directors. Ciavarella rejected a lawsuit by Emil Malinowski against the bank, a decision enforced by the State High Court.
Ki Bum Lee, M.D. requested that a malpractice suit against him by Debra Sharkey be dropped. In court documents filed in early September 2009, Dr. Lee, Michael Badowski, said Dr Lee should also be given compensation after information appeared about Ciavarella, William Sharkey, former court administrator, and Sharkey lawyer Robert Powell. Badowski alleged that Sharkey and Ciavarella's first cousin as defendant, Judge Michael Conahan, assigned Ciavarella to a case of malpractice and that, due to a conflict of interest, Ciavarella continued to fight doctors. The suit, originally filed in October 1997, claimed Lee committed malpractice during Debra Sharkey's hysterectomy.
Pension fight
Ciavarella, whose resignation from the bench was effective on March 16, 2009, applied for a pension benefit on the same day, attempting to withdraw cash totaling $ 232,051 which included $ 51,699 in interest and began receiving $ 5,156 in monthly retirement benefits. However, Ciavarella agreed to a federal order that froze his retirement allowance on or about May 27, 2009. The order was requested by the US Attorney's office to apply the benefits to the restitution to the victims.
Furthermore, the State Employees Pension System (SERS) refused a pension benefit for Ciavarella, reversing his previous position that he was eligible to receive benefits until he was sentenced. The SERS ruled the former judge's guilty plea for fraud and conspiracy in February gave reason enough to deny profits. The agency bases its determination on the Pension Abolition Act, which allows the rejection of benefits for anyone convicted of a particular crime related to their public works. SERS also refused to pay Ciavarella for $ 234,000 that he donated to the pension system because the State Department of Public Welfare claims that he and Conahan are responsible for $ 4.3 million in alleged overpayment given to two juvenile detention centers.
References
External links
- Luzerne County Judges, The Times-Leader , a collection of articles of the daily newspaper Wilkes-Barre
- Luzerne County Renewal Center at Wayback Machine (archived June 3, 2009), Children's Legal Center
- Documentary film about the case - Children for Cash
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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