Saturday, August 08, 2009

"Robert Powell had bills to pay"

Witnesses back Lokuta claim of conspiracy

Lokuta: Conahan was courthouse king


Sandra Brulo said she was called into Ciavarella's chambers and Ciavarella handed her the phone, saying "the boss" wanted to talk to her. "Judge Conahan began screaming at me and accused me of being responsible for the ramping up limits. He said Robert Powell had bills to pay and that the ramping limits were limiting the admissions," Brulo said in the statement.


I've always thought that Judge Ann Lokuta got railroaded and Michael Conahan orchastrated her removal from the bench. Now 4 witnesses have made statements suporting her claim.


In addition to Brulo, statements were provided by Patricia Benzi, a security guard at the courthouse; Carolee Medico Olenginski, former county prothonotary; and Joseph S. Novak, a plaintiff in a civil case before Lokuta.

In her statement, Benzi said she was once asked to deliver an envelope from Billie D’Elia to Lokuta. Benzi said she gave the envelope to Lokuta’s secretary, Maureen Gushanas. Later that day, Gushanas returned the envelope to her and told her


“You tell him my judge isn’t like the rest of the judges!”


7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Where were these people when the kids were unjustly going to a prison?

Big Dan said...

Remember you had a contest for a nickname for the Juvie Bros.?

"Judge Springsteen Conahan" is my entry for Conahan individually.

Big Dan said...

Well, he was also the "King" as well as the "Boss", so my 2nd entry is:

"Judge Elvis Conahan"

Judge Elvis Conahan has left the building...

"Jailhouse Rock" anyone???????

Big Dan said...

Goin' to a party at the county jail...

Big Dan said...

"Benzi said she was once asked to deliver an envelope from Billie D’Elia to Lokuta."

Oh, beautiful! Fantastic! Mobsters running the courthouse! Can it get any worse than this???

Unbelievable! Someone needs to write a book about this and make it into a movie...and it's not over yet!

Maybe a continuing HBO series.

"The Luzerne County Courthouse Sopranos"

Austin said...

It is amazing to me all the people that could have come forward to blow the whistle on this kind of corruption earlier.

I spoke to someone who worked in the county managers office and said there was a lot of things she had to not see and hear. The thing is it isn't like she was in the money with that job. The salaries for most courthouse jobs are pitifully low and she said she hated other things about the job as well.

People aren't willing to risk even lousy jobs to blow the whistle.

Anonymous said...

I think Annie getting booted off the bench was a good thing, as she ws a loonie-toon that many people at the courthouse can verify besides judges. But, with these fixed court cases starting to surface, how deep does that go? I had a lawsuit against a client that was dead to rights, my lawyer said the judge set a dollar range that the case fell in, the opposition said they would only pay the least, and my guy said we should take it and run. Crooked courthouse or lazy lawyer?