Mark Ciavarella
Encyclopedia
Mark Arthur Ciavarella Jr. (born March 3, 1950) is a convicted felon and former President Judge of the Luzerne County Court of Common Pleas in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania
who committed, along with fellow judge Michael Conahan
, the "Kids for cash" scandal
in 2008.
In August 2011, Ciavarella was sentenced to 28 years in federal prison
for his involvement in the Kids for Cash scandal.
, receiving his law degree in 1975. Ciavarella entered private legal practice, becoming a partner in the firm of Lowery, Ciavarella and Rogers. From 1976 to 1978 he was city solicitor and then from 1978 until 1995 he served as solicitor for the city zoning board. In 1995 he ran for judge in Luzerne County on the Democratic ticket and was elected to a ten year term. He was re-elected to a second ten year term in 2005. Ciavarella was also active in several civic and Catholic organizations. He is married to the former Cindy Baer and the couple have three children.
, wire fraud
and tax evasion in connection with receiving $2.6 million in kickbacks from Robert Powell
and Robert Mericle, the co-owner and builder respectively, of two private, for-profit juvenile facilities
. More specifically, the crimes charged were: conspiracy to deprive the public of the "intangible right of honest services", or corruption, and conspiracy to defraud the United States by failing to report income to the Internal Revenue Service
. Ciavarella tendered his resignation to Governor Ed Rendell
on January 23, 2009, prior to official publication of the charges.
The plea agreement called for Ciavarella to serve up to seven years in prison, pay fines and restitution, and accept responsibility for the crimes. However, Ciavarella has denied that there was a connection between the juvenile sentences he rendered and the kickbacks he received. In part because of this denial, on July 30, 2009, Judge Edwin M. Kosik of Federal District Court
in Scranton, Pennsylvania
rejected the plea agreement. He ruled that Ciavarella had continued to deny that there was a ‘quid pro quo
’ between his receipt of money and his jailing of juveniles, instead characterizing the money as a "finder’s fee" despite what Judge Kosik felt was the weight of the government's evidence. Attorneys for the two judges brought a motion requesting reconsideration of the judge's rejection of the plea agreement. The motion was denied on August 24, and Ciavarella and Conahan withdrew their guilty pleas, an action that could result in a jury trial or additional charges against the former judges.
On September 9, 2009, a federal grand jury in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania returned a 48 count indictment against Ciavarella and Conahan, which includes racketeering, fraud, money laundering, extortion, bribery, and federal tax violations. Both judges were arraigned on the charges on September 15, 2009. Ciavarella and Conahan entered pleas of not guilty to the 48 count indictment and remained free on one million dollar bail, despite federal prosecutors contentions that their bail should be raised since they now faced the possibility of substantially more prison time and that there was evidence of their attempts to shield assets.
On February 18, 2011, a jury in federal court found Ciavarella guilty of racketeering. This charge stemmed from Ciavarella accepting $997,000 in illegal payments from Robert Mericle, the real estate developer of PA Child Care, and attorney Robert Powell, a co-owner of the facility. Ciavarella is also on trial for 38 other counts including accepting numerous payments from Mericle and Powell as well as tax evasion.
On August 11, 2011 Ciavarella was sentenced to 28 years in federal prison. With good behavior, he could be released in less than 24 years, when he would be 85.
lawsuit filed by the Juvenile Law Center on behalf of the juveniles who were adjudicated delinquent by him despite not being represented by counsel or advised of their rights. He has moved to dismiss this lawsuit as it pertains to him based on judicial immunity. He is also named as a defendant in three other lawsuits, however, all four lawsuits have been consolidated into one master class action lawsuit which was filed in June and then amended in late August.
The plaintiffs, in a 75-page court filing on September 9, argued that the actions of Ciavarella and Conahan should not be "fully shielded by absolutely judicial immunity or legislative immunity", because their actions went beyond their judicial and administrative duties.
In early 2009, the Wilkes-Barre daily newspaper The Citizens' Voice accused Judge Ciavarella of improperly concealing a conflict of interest when he rendered a $3.5 million defamation judgment against the paper, and it moved to have the case reopened. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court appointed Lehigh County President Judge William H. Platt to conduct hearings into the matter. After two days of testimony in July, Judge Platt recommended that the verdict be vacated and a new trial be conducted. His recommendation was partially based on the fact that Ciavarella admitted that he wrongly presided over cases involving clients of Robert J. Powell, an attorney who paid Ciavarella and Conahan more than $770,000 in kickbacks.
In June 2009, attorneys from Laputka, Bayless, Ecker & Cohn, a Hazleton law firm, are appealing a $3.4 million legal malpractice verdict and wish to supplement the record to indicate that Ciavarella should not have presided over the case and should have recused himself, because of his relationship with Powell, who was the opposing attorney.
In early August, the state Supreme Court ordered Luzerne County President Judge Chester Muroski to review a land dispute case that was dismissed by Ciavarella to determine if the ruling was tainted. First National Community Bank had loaned Ciavarella $848,000 and Conahan sat on the bank's board of directors. Ciavarella dismissed a lawsuit by Emil Malinowski against the bank, a ruling which was upheld by the state Superior Court.
Dr. Ki Bum Lee, M.D. requested that a malpractice suit against him by Debra Sharkey be dropped. In court papers filed in early September, Dr. Lee's attorney, Michael Badowski, said Dr. Lee should also be awarded damages after information recently surfaced regarding Ciavarella, William Sharkey, the former court administrator, and Sharkey’s attorney, Robert Powell. Badowski alleges that Sharkey's first cousin and Ciavarella's co-defendant, Judge Michael Conahan, assigned Ciavarella to the malpractice case and because of the conflict of interest, Ciavarella has continually ruled against the doctor. The lawsuit, originally filed in October 1997, claims Lee malpracticed Debra Sharkey's hysterectomy.
However, Ciavarella agreed to a federal injunction freezing his pension benefits on or about May 27, 2009. It was requested by the U.S. Attorney's office in order to apply the benefits to restitution to the victims.
Subsequently, the State Employees' Retirement System (SERS) denied pension benefits to Ciavarella, reversing its earlier position that he is eligible to receive benefits until he is sentenced. SERS ruled the former judge's guilty pleas to fraud and conspiracy in February provided sufficient grounds to deny the benefits. The agency based its determination on the pension forfeiture act, which allows for the denial of benefits to anyone convicted of certain crimes related to their public employment. SERS also refused to repay Ciavarella the $234,000 he contributed to the retirement system because the state Department of Public Welfare claims he and Conahan are liable for $4.3 million in alleged overpayments it made to two juvenile detention centers.
Ciavarella has appealed the decision, and his attorney alleges that the withdrawal of his guilty plea aids that appeal since there is now no guilty plea on file.
Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania
Wilkes-Barre is a city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania, the county seat of Luzerne County. It is at the center of the Wyoming Valley area and is one of the principal cities in the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre metropolitan area, which had a population of 563,631 as of the 2010 Census...
who committed, along with fellow judge Michael Conahan
Michael Conahan
Michael Conahan is a former judge from Luzerne County, Pennsylvaniawho committed the "Kids for cash" scandal in2008 with fellow judge Mark Ciavarella.Conahan, as president judge, used his budgetary discretion to stop funding the...
, the "Kids for cash" scandal
Kids for cash scandal
The "Kids for cash" scandal unfolded in 2008 over judicial kickbacks at the Luzerne County Court of Common Pleas in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. Two judges, President Judge Mark Ciavarella and Senior Judge Michael Conahan, were accused of accepting money from the co-owner and builder of two private,...
in 2008.
In August 2011, Ciavarella was sentenced to 28 years in federal prison
Federal prison
Federal prisons are run by national governments in countries where subdivisions of the country also operate prisons.In the United States federal prisons are operated by the Federal Bureau of Prisons. In Canada the Correctional Service of Canada operates federal prisons. Prison sentences in these...
for his involvement in the Kids for Cash scandal.
Biography
Ciavarella is a lifelong resident of Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, having been raised in the East End section of the city and attending St. Mary's High School. After graduating from the local King's College he attended Duquesne University School of LawDuquesne University School of Law
Duquesne University School of Law is a private Catholic university law school located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The School of Law was founded in 1911, and is the only multiple-division law school in western Pennsylvania. Located on the Duquesne University campus, the law school is walking...
, receiving his law degree in 1975. Ciavarella entered private legal practice, becoming a partner in the firm of Lowery, Ciavarella and Rogers. From 1976 to 1978 he was city solicitor and then from 1978 until 1995 he served as solicitor for the city zoning board. In 1995 he ran for judge in Luzerne County on the Democratic ticket and was elected to a ten year term. He was re-elected to a second ten year term in 2005. Ciavarella was also active in several civic and Catholic organizations. He is married to the former Cindy Baer and the couple have three children.
"Kids-for-Cash" Scandal
Ciavarella pleaded guilty on February 13, 2009, pursuant to a plea agreement, to federal charges of honest services fraudHonest services fraud
Honest services fraud refers to a 28-word sentence of , added by the United States Congress in 1988, which states: "For the purposes of this chapter, the term, scheme or artifice to defraud includes a scheme or artifice to deprive another of the intangible right of honest services."The statute...
, wire fraud
Wire fraud
Mail and wire fraud is a federal crime in the United States. Together, 18 U.S.C. §§ 1341, 1343, and 1346 reach any fraudulent scheme or artifice to intentionally deprive another of property or honest services with a nexus to mail or wire communication....
and tax evasion in connection with receiving $2.6 million in kickbacks from Robert Powell
Robert Powell
Robert Powell is an English television and film actor, probably most famous for his title role in Jesus of Nazareth and as the fictional secret agent Richard Hannay...
and Robert Mericle, the co-owner and builder respectively, of two private, for-profit juvenile facilities
Youth detention center
A youth detention center, also known as a juvenile detention center , juvenile hall or, more colloquially as juvie, is a secure residential facility for young people, often termed juvenile delinquents, awaiting court hearings and/or placement in long-term care facilities and programs...
. More specifically, the crimes charged were: conspiracy to deprive the public of the "intangible right of honest services", or corruption, and conspiracy to defraud the United States by failing to report income to the Internal Revenue Service
Internal Revenue Service
The Internal Revenue Service is the revenue service of the United States federal government. The agency is a bureau of the Department of the Treasury, and is under the immediate direction of the Commissioner of Internal Revenue...
. Ciavarella tendered his resignation to Governor Ed Rendell
Ed Rendell
Edward Gene "Ed" Rendell is an American politician who served as the 45th Governor of Pennsylvania. Rendell, a member of the Democratic Party, was elected Governor of Pennsylvania in 2002, and his term of office began January 21, 2003...
on January 23, 2009, prior to official publication of the charges.
The plea agreement called for Ciavarella to serve up to seven years in prison, pay fines and restitution, and accept responsibility for the crimes. However, Ciavarella has denied that there was a connection between the juvenile sentences he rendered and the kickbacks he received. In part because of this denial, on July 30, 2009, Judge Edwin M. Kosik of Federal District Court
United States District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania
The United States District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania is district level federal court with jurisdiction over approximately one half of Pennsylvania...
in Scranton, Pennsylvania
Scranton, Pennsylvania
Scranton is a city in the northeastern part of Pennsylvania, United States. It is the county seat of Lackawanna County and the largest principal city in the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre metropolitan area. Scranton had a population of 76,089 in 2010, according to the U.S...
rejected the plea agreement. He ruled that Ciavarella had continued to deny that there was a ‘quid pro quo
Quid pro quo
Quid pro quo most often means a more-or-less equal exchange or substitution of goods or services. English speakers often use the term to mean "a favour for a favour" and the phrases with almost identical meaning include: "give and take", "tit for tat", "this for that", and "you scratch my back,...
’ between his receipt of money and his jailing of juveniles, instead characterizing the money as a "finder’s fee" despite what Judge Kosik felt was the weight of the government's evidence. Attorneys for the two judges brought a motion requesting reconsideration of the judge's rejection of the plea agreement. The motion was denied on August 24, and Ciavarella and Conahan withdrew their guilty pleas, an action that could result in a jury trial or additional charges against the former judges.
On September 9, 2009, a federal grand jury in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania returned a 48 count indictment against Ciavarella and Conahan, which includes racketeering, fraud, money laundering, extortion, bribery, and federal tax violations. Both judges were arraigned on the charges on September 15, 2009. Ciavarella and Conahan entered pleas of not guilty to the 48 count indictment and remained free on one million dollar bail, despite federal prosecutors contentions that their bail should be raised since they now faced the possibility of substantially more prison time and that there was evidence of their attempts to shield assets.
On February 18, 2011, a jury in federal court found Ciavarella guilty of racketeering. This charge stemmed from Ciavarella accepting $997,000 in illegal payments from Robert Mericle, the real estate developer of PA Child Care, and attorney Robert Powell, a co-owner of the facility. Ciavarella is also on trial for 38 other counts including accepting numerous payments from Mericle and Powell as well as tax evasion.
On August 11, 2011 Ciavarella was sentenced to 28 years in federal prison. With good behavior, he could be released in less than 24 years, when he would be 85.
Civil lawsuits
Ciavarella is a defendant in a class actionClass action
In law, a class action, a class suit, or a representative action is a form of lawsuit in which a large group of people collectively bring a claim to court and/or in which a class of defendants is being sued...
lawsuit filed by the Juvenile Law Center on behalf of the juveniles who were adjudicated delinquent by him despite not being represented by counsel or advised of their rights. He has moved to dismiss this lawsuit as it pertains to him based on judicial immunity. He is also named as a defendant in three other lawsuits, however, all four lawsuits have been consolidated into one master class action lawsuit which was filed in June and then amended in late August.
The plaintiffs, in a 75-page court filing on September 9, argued that the actions of Ciavarella and Conahan should not be "fully shielded by absolutely judicial immunity or legislative immunity", because their actions went beyond their judicial and administrative duties.
Review of judicial rulings
On March 26, 2009, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court approved special master, Senior Judge Arthur Grim's recommendations and ruled that Ciavarella had violated the constitutional rights of thousands of juveniles, and thus ordered hundreds of his juvenile convictions overturned.In early 2009, the Wilkes-Barre daily newspaper The Citizens' Voice accused Judge Ciavarella of improperly concealing a conflict of interest when he rendered a $3.5 million defamation judgment against the paper, and it moved to have the case reopened. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court appointed Lehigh County President Judge William H. Platt to conduct hearings into the matter. After two days of testimony in July, Judge Platt recommended that the verdict be vacated and a new trial be conducted. His recommendation was partially based on the fact that Ciavarella admitted that he wrongly presided over cases involving clients of Robert J. Powell, an attorney who paid Ciavarella and Conahan more than $770,000 in kickbacks.
In June 2009, attorneys from Laputka, Bayless, Ecker & Cohn, a Hazleton law firm, are appealing a $3.4 million legal malpractice verdict and wish to supplement the record to indicate that Ciavarella should not have presided over the case and should have recused himself, because of his relationship with Powell, who was the opposing attorney.
In early August, the state Supreme Court ordered Luzerne County President Judge Chester Muroski to review a land dispute case that was dismissed by Ciavarella to determine if the ruling was tainted. First National Community Bank had loaned Ciavarella $848,000 and Conahan sat on the bank's board of directors. Ciavarella dismissed a lawsuit by Emil Malinowski against the bank, a ruling which was upheld by the state Superior Court.
Dr. Ki Bum Lee, M.D. requested that a malpractice suit against him by Debra Sharkey be dropped. In court papers filed in early September, Dr. Lee's attorney, Michael Badowski, said Dr. Lee should also be awarded damages after information recently surfaced regarding Ciavarella, William Sharkey, the former court administrator, and Sharkey’s attorney, Robert Powell. Badowski alleges that Sharkey's first cousin and Ciavarella's co-defendant, Judge Michael Conahan, assigned Ciavarella to the malpractice case and because of the conflict of interest, Ciavarella has continually ruled against the doctor. The lawsuit, originally filed in October 1997, claims Lee malpracticed Debra Sharkey's hysterectomy.
Pension fight
Ciavarella, whose resignation from the bench took effect on March 16, 2009, submitted an application for pension benefits that same day, seeking to withdraw a lump sum of $232,051 that included $51,699 in interest and to begin receiving $5,156 in monthly pension benefits.However, Ciavarella agreed to a federal injunction freezing his pension benefits on or about May 27, 2009. It was requested by the U.S. Attorney's office in order to apply the benefits to restitution to the victims.
Subsequently, the State Employees' Retirement System (SERS) denied pension benefits to Ciavarella, reversing its earlier position that he is eligible to receive benefits until he is sentenced. SERS ruled the former judge's guilty pleas to fraud and conspiracy in February provided sufficient grounds to deny the benefits. The agency based its determination on the pension forfeiture act, which allows for the denial of benefits to anyone convicted of certain crimes related to their public employment. SERS also refused to repay Ciavarella the $234,000 he contributed to the retirement system because the state Department of Public Welfare claims he and Conahan are liable for $4.3 million in alleged overpayments it made to two juvenile detention centers.
Ciavarella has appealed the decision, and his attorney alleges that the withdrawal of his guilty plea aids that appeal since there is now no guilty plea on file.
External links
- Corruption Probe, The Citizens' Voice, Wilkes-Barre daily newspaper article collection
- Luzerne County Judges, The Times-Leader, Wilkes-Barre daily newspaper article collection
- Luzerne County Update Center, Juvenile Law Center