Pennsylvania judge gets 28 years in 'kids for cash' case

[RandySF]

SCRANTON, Pa. — A longtime judge has been ordered to spend nearly three decades in prison for his role in a massive juvenile justice bribery scandal that prompted the state's high court to toss thousands of convictions.

Former Luzerne County Judge Mark Ciavarella Jr. was sentenced Thursday to 28 years in federal prison for taking $1 million in bribes from the builder of a pair of juvenile detention centers in a case that became known as "kids-for-cash."

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court tossed about 4,000 convictions issued by Ciavarella between 2003 and 2008, saying he violated the constitutional rights of the juveniles, including the right to legal counsel and the right to intelligently enter a plea.


http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44105072/ns/us_news-crime_and_courts/?gt1=43001#.TkQ7kn3EhoU

[bluestateguy]

1. Is he actually going to jail today or are there going to be a bunch of bullshit appeals?

A jail sentence is never for real until the person sees the inside of a prison cell.

Just ask Tom DeLay.

[Firebrand Gary]

2. dupe

[proud patriot]

3. that's good to hear

[dickthegrouch]

4. Disgorging the profits?

I hope he and his co-conspirators were also ordered to pay each convicted kid some astronomical sum of cash
and that the kids' convictions were not just tossed, but each was found factually innocent of all charges.

[DonCoquixote]

5. I used to work in a prison

and I can tell you, it is a balance between trying to be idealistic, and trying to avoid doing something stupid enough to get you raped and shanked.

because I know that even under the best circumstances, our prison system is f-ed up, I hope this judge has himself a good old time there, as he will become a hot commodity on the market soon (maybe even worth a carton of cigs), normally i would say no one deserves such a fate; I have seen men who would be the stuff of nightmares on the outside reduced to sobbing tears after they got "caught" by their fellow inmates; it is useless to have the strength of them man when a dozen come after you. But I could make an exception for the judge whose actions probably led to such suffering for so many.

[Warren DeMontague]

6. Wow. 28 years seems kind of harsh.

It's not like he did something really serious, like get caught with a bag of pot. :sarcasm:

[dixiegrrrrl]

7. So, which lucky prison gets the cash for his warm carc-ass?

[RagAss]

8. Rot...Fucking Scumbag !

[Bonhomme Richard]

9. At last, a story that brings a smile to my face. n/t