Legal News

Judge Found Guilty in Cash-for-Kids Case; Mother of Child Not Pleased

By Ashby Jones

Last Friday, a jury found a former Pennsylvania judge accused of sending large numbers of children to detention centers in exchange for kickbacks from the builder of the detention guilty on 12 counts of money laundering and conspiracy.

The jury also acquitted the defendant, Mark Ciavarella, on 27 counts, including extortion. Click here for the AP story; here for the story from the Scranton Times-Tribune; here for the story from the Wilkes-Barre Times Leader.

But the jury verdict hardly ended the drama.

Ciavarella was allowed to remain free pending sentencing after the conviction Friday. And after the verdict, he made rather strident statements to the media outside the courthouse.

“Never took a dime to send a kid anywhere. … Never happened. Never, ever happened. This case was about extortions and kickbacks, not about ‘kids for cash,’” said Ciavarella, who plans to appeal.

In response to the judge’s being able to walk pending sentencing, 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. (Click here for the video, which contains obscenities).

“My kid’s not here anymore!” yelled Fonzo. “He’s dead! Because of him! He ruined my f——- life! I’d like him to go to hell and rot there forever!”

Ciavarella glanced at Fonzo, then turned his back.

Fonzo’s son, Edward Kenzakowski, was a 17-year-old all-star wrestler with no prior record when he landed in Ciavarella’s courtroom for possession of drug paraphernalia. She said her son never recovered from the months he served at the detention centers and a wilderness camp.

Tears streaming down her face, Fonzo said she couldn’t believe Ciavarella was allowed to walk out of the courthouse.

“There’s no justice, there’s not. He’s never going to get what he deserves,” she said. “I just wanted to see him handcuffed and taken out. But when I saw him just being released with that stupid smirk on his face …”

The jury found Ciavarella guilty of taking a $997,600 kickback from Robert Mericle, the builder of the juvenile facilities. But jurors acquitted him of extorting Robert Powell, the facilities’ developer and co-owner.

The defense declared victory. “We’re amazed. The jury rejected 95 percent of the government’s case,” said attorney Al Flora.

“I find it interesting,” U.S. Attorney Peter Smith said in response, “that a man just convicted of racketeering is claiming any sort of a victory out there today. I wonder what he would consider a defeat.”

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on February 22, 2011 (boomark / email).