Let's go to trial

A few years ago I was in the jury pool for a murder case. I forget if it was the prosecution or the defense that asked me what I thought about the death penalty. My reply almost got me a contempt citation. For the most part I oppose it because I don't think the government should be killing people no matter what they did and the administration of it is a nightmare. The one exception that I favor the death penalty is a case of a elected public official (such as a judge) using his/her office to enrich themselves. That bastard should be strung up in the Public Square after due process of course.


Ciavarella, Conahan withdraw guilty pleas

UPDATE: Conahan/Ciavarella file motions to withdraw guilty pleas


The Judge still doesn't buy it.


I want a trial!

Honest Service Fraud and tax evasion are minimum charges. They can pile on a lot more.

Help me out lawyers. Does the Us Attorney have to go back to the Grand Jury to get more charges?

About that finder's fee

SCRANTON - Prominent area developer Robert Mericle has agreed to plead guilty to a federal charge of failing to report a felony, Acting U.S. Attorney Dennis Pfannenschmidt announced today.

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The agreement, which was signed July 31, calls for Mericle to plead guilty to one count of failing to report a felony. Prosecutors say Mericle failed to disclose his knowledge that former judges Michael Conahan and Mark Ciavarella had accepted kickbacks in exchange for rulings that benefited the PA and Western PA juvenile detention centers that Mericle built.

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The centers were owned at the time by Gregory Zappala and Robert Powell. Powell has also entered a guilty plea in the case. Included in the plea agreement Mericle has also agreed to pay $2.15 million for funding programs that will benefit "the health, safety and general welfare of children of Luzerne County." I guess you can try to buy your way out of anything.

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Alternate headlines from Big Dan

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"IT'S MIRACLE! MERICLE FINALLY CHARGED!"

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IT'S A MERICLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!""MERICLES DO HAPPEN!!!!!!!!!!"

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McGruff has

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Robert Mericle- No Miracle Could Avoid Pleading Guilty

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And my favorite

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Pfahrvergnügen from Pfannenschmidt

I'll believe it when I see it

The Times Leader has another story today citing anonymous sources saying that two county judges and a county court official are expected to face charges. No names or crimes were listed. We've been going through this for a few months and I'm getting to feel like I'm hearing the boy who called wolf.

The speculation centers on the tangled web involving Judges Mike Conahan and Mark Ciavarella with PA Child Care owners Robert Powell and would be Hazleton Airport builder Greg Zapalla. Prothonotary Jill Moran also has ties to a company, W-Cat Inc., that they all have money invested in.

Then there is the Debit Card scandal that the Secret Service is investigating and the no bid contracts at the prison that some secret police outfit is supposed to be looking into.

Feds raid Courthouse annex

Send lawyers, guns and money The shit has hit the fan-Warren Zevon

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WILKES-BARRE – The Federal Bureau of Investigation served a search warrant on the Luzerne County Juvenile Probation Department on Thursday morning, seizing financial records related to placement of juveniles at the PA Child Care and Western PA Child Care centers formerly owned by attorney Robert Powell.

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Agents search county juvenile probation offices

Powell's business partners are Luzerne County President Judge Mark Ciavarella and Senior Judge Michael Conahan who have been sending kids to the place since Conahan decided that the old facility on River Street wasn't up to snuff.

"Lawyers, Guns and Money" by Warren Zevon

The brother-in-law effect

We all know what that is. Sometimes it's good for a million dollars in business.

Vita bill totals $1.1 million
County psychologist made “twice as much as what he’d make in private practice,” another local practitioner says...

Frank Vita was paid $233,005 to provide juvenile psychological evaluations for Luzerne County’s court system from July 2001 through 2003, bringing his total receipts to more than $1.1 million, county records show...Vita is the brother-in-law of Court of Common Pleas senior Judge Mike Conahan.

Conahan was the President Judge before his retirement and decided who to hire for professional services. Our new Common Pleas President Judge Mark Ciavarella says Vita is doing a great job. Ciavarella is contending that the courts can't be directed what to do by the county commissioners citing a separation of powers argument.


David doesn't buy that and suggest: So if the Judges are a separate branch of government, maybe Petrilla and Urban can get a couple of double wides and move the Judge’s offices to the Forty Fort Airport for starters.

The Lu Lac Political Letter also points out that over half the kids that go through the juvenile court system don't have lawyers but they get to sit down with a shrink that is billing the county $90 an hour. I don't know what a public defender makes but it is probably less.