The Pennsylvania Supreme Court on Thursday overturned thousands of juvenile-offender convictions handed down by a judge now charged in a corruption scandal.
The judge, Mark Ciavarella of the Luzerne County Court of Common Pleas, and Michael Conahan, a fellow judge who for a time was the chief of that court, are charged with taking more than US$2.6 million in kickbacks from the owner of two privately run youth detention centers in exchange for sending teenagers there.
The Supreme Court said the conviction of any juvenile who appeared before Ciavarella after Jan. 1, 2003, was invalid. The justices barred the retrial of all but an estimated 100 of those cases.
The decision followed advice the court received from Arthur Grim, a Berks County judge whom it appointed in February to review juvenile cases involving Ciavarella and Conahan.
Ciavarella, who along with Conahan awaits federal trial on charges of income-tax and wire fraud, routinely held juvenile hearings that lasted just minutes, failing to ask the youths before him whether they understood the consequences of waiving their right to a lawyer and pleading guilty.
“We concluded,” the justices wrote on Wednesday, “that the record supports Judge Grim’s determination that Ciavarella knew he was violating both the law and the procedural rules promulgated by this court applicable when adjudicating the merits of juvenile cases without the knowing, intelligent and voluntary waiver of counsel by the juveniles.”
The news was met with jubilation by parents of those affected.
“Justice still works,” said Laurene Transue, whose daughter, Hillary, was sentenced to a wilderness camp for building a spoof MySpace page that lampooned her assistant principal. “Sometimes it just needs an extra push.”
Advocates for children also hailed the move.
“The Supreme Court has restored integrity to Pennsylvania’s juvenile justice system and given hope to youth who suffered enormous harm at the hands of corrupt judges,” said Marie Roda, a spokeswoman for the Juvenile Law Center, which represents some of the youths and says the court’s order covers more than 6,000 cases.
Under the justices’ ruling, the only cases that will be eligible for retrial are those in which youths are still under court supervision. The district attorney’s office has been directed to notify Grim of those cases it wishes to prosecute again. He will then make determinations on each case.
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