Mom Lashes Out At "Scumbag" Judge That Was Found Guilty Of Sending Kids To Jail For Payola

[democracy1st]

Run time: 08:42 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QTOjsbWtR18   Posted on YouTube: February 21, 2011 By YouTube Member: MOXNEWSd0tCOM Views on YouTube: 1374   Posted on DU: February 21, 2011 By DU Member: democracy1st Views on DU: 1973

 
Ciavarella, 61, left the bench in disgrace two years ago after he and a second judge, Michael Conahan, were accused of using juvenile delinquents as pawns in a plot to get rich. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has dismissed 4,000 juvenile convictions issued by Ciavarella, saying he sentenced young offenders without regard for their constitutional rights.

Federal prosecutors accused Ciavarella and Conahan of taking more than $2 million in bribes from the builder of the PA Child Care and Western PA Child Care detention centers and extorting hundreds of thousands of dollars from the facilities' co-owner.

A federal jury in Scranton convicted Ciavarella of 12 counts, including racketeering, money laundering and conspiracy, but acquitted him of 27 counts, including extortion. He is likely to get a prison sentence of more than 12 years, according to prosecutors — who revealed after the verdicts that a reputed mob boss turned informant helped them make their case.

Parents of juveniles who appeared before Ciavarella were outraged that he was released after the verdicts. Ciavarella often ordered youths he had found delinquent to be immediately shackled, handcuffed and taken away without giving them a chance to say goodbye to their families. Some of the children he ordered locked up were as young as 10.

Sandy Fonzo, whose son was jailed by Ciavarella — and committed suicide last year at age 23 — screamed obscenities at the judge and even poked him as he and his attorneys held a news conference on the courthouse steps.

"My kid's not here anymore!" yelled Fonzo. "He's dead! Because of him! He ruined my ... life! I'd like him to go to hell and rot there forever!"

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110219/ap_on_re_us/us_courthouse_kickbacks

[Poll_Blind]

1. That man is a very bad man and I have no care whatsoever as to what happens to him.

In that one case alone you can see how devastating his crime has affected the thousands of people that the judge sentenced for financial gains.

PB

[FreakinDJ]

2. The "Gifts" of PRIVATIZED Detention Centers

See what happens when you put PROFIT Motives in the Justice System

Prosecutors alleged that Conahan, who pleaded guilty to racketeering last year, and Ciavarella plotted to shut down the dilapidated county-run juvenile detention center in 2002 and arrange for the construction of the PA Child Care facility outside Wilkes-Barre.

Luzerne County paid Powell's company more than $30 million between 2003 and 2007 to house juveniles at PA Child Care and Western PA Child Care. The county could have built its own juvenile center for about $9 million, according to testimony.

[duhneece]

6. So right. Some services should NEVER be privatized

Prisons & jails....water....necessary services....military & defense/security....

The free market works great for toilet paper and food, monstrously in this case for justice.

[liberation]

10. "The free market works great for toilet paper and food..."

You may be correct regarding the wonders of free market toilet paper. I fail to see what is so great about Montsanto, frankenfood, depleted soil, unsanitary fast food, and epidemic obesity and diabetes levels... though.

The "free market" it has never been "free" nor that "great" to tell you the truth.

[duhneece]

17. Good catch. You are so right nt

[FreakinDJ]

13. Once Monetary Incentives enter - it is No Longer Justice

No better then the Chinese Communist interning 1000s of protesters from Tiananmen Square in LABOR Detention Camps manufacturing cheap goods for Walmart

[Warren DeMontague]

3. Well, no price is too high to pay if it keeps a kid from smoking the weed.

Or, say, swearing.

:sarcasm:

[liberation]

11. That kid, for example, is now safe from drugs for all eternity...

... a resounding success, obviously.

(sarcasm too)

[votesparks]

4. This is your War On Drugs

and what it leads to in reality.

America, why are you such a sick mother of injustice?

Heartbreaking.

[duhneece]

7. Speak this message....when you can, where you can

Cast a light on the injustice of the 'war on drugs' ...too many deaths, too many lives ruined. For a policy that couldn't work: prohibition.

[fascisthunter]

5. this shit has been happening for a verrrry long time now

not with this judge in particular but with folks I know first hand. Fucking uppercrust scumbags. Wanna war against us, well you got it now, and will be getting more than you even imagined.

[Confusious]

8. 12 years is too little for betraying the public trust

He should get life for the lives he destroyed.

[The Backlash Cometh]

9. No question the judge should get the book thrown at him.

But, there's more going on in juvenile delinquent sentencing that is unfair, and has been for decades. This judge's mistake is that he probably put too many white juveniles who are "connected" to the community into this scam deal. I would think that would give him too much high exposure. Because, even the mom has the stereotype down. Inner city kids = murders and drug dealers.

[reggie the dog]

12. drugs should be legal

at most underage use should be punished with education,detox for the kids if parents request it.

i have been reading about this judge here for years. he sentenced a 1st offender girl to 8 months i think for a fistfight in school I think, or his accused in crime perhaps.... sad story and it is too bad they cannot get life.

[sulphurdunn]

14. So, have the crooks who bribed

this bastard been convicted of anything?

[Scottybeamer70]

15. If 12 years is all he gets.........

for all the damage he did to so many kids, then there is no justice. For what that one woman has gone through,
I thought she was actualy quite civil. I'm afraid I would have been arrested on the spot.
Being a judge in prison is not going to be a cakewalk I think. He may soon regret having sent a single kid
to jail. All that money he made might not be looking so good right now. There had to have been many others
in on this.......are they not going to be held accountable?

[Citizen Worker]

16. Milton Friedman and all of the free marketers are justifiably proud of the market based solutions

imposed by these robed thugs. If this happens in the juvenile injustice system do you think it just might be possible that it happens in the adult system?

[JDPriestly]

18. Meanwhile, the thieves on Wall Street continue to enjoy their

billions. Steal millions and you can buy a bunch of prosecutors and a judge. Get caught with drug paraphernalia and your life is ruined. That about sums up our criminal justice system under the Obama and Bush administrations.

[democracy1st]

19. +1