Pennsylvania judge Mark Ciavarella Jr. was sentenced to 28 years in prison for a scandal in which he sent thousands of children to private prisons in return for a kickback.
The judge in the “cash for kids” scandal, Ciavarella Jr., was tried and convicted of racketeering charges. Lawyers for the 61-year-old former judge had asked for a “reasonable” sentence, saying the judge had been punished already through his conviction and fall from grace.
“He will forever be unjustly branded as the `Kids for Cash‘ judge,” his lawyer contended.
The Pennsylvania judge had a reputation for his harsh and dictatorial courtroom manner, and for what appeared to be overly strict sentencing. The trial revealed that Ciavarella was more than just a tough judge.
Ciavarella was famously confronted by a mother of one of the children sentenced. While he stood on the courthouse steps addressing the media, Ciavarella was interrupted by a mother whose son was sent to jail in the “cash for kids” scandal.
The boy served a jail sentence and lost his standing at high school, where he was an honor student and wrestler. The boy ended up taking his life.
Ciavarella was sentenced to 28 years and ordered to pay $1.2 million in restitution after being called a “figurehead” in the cash-for-kids scandal. A jury found that he had violated the constitutional rights of the children sentenced, stripping them of the right to legal counsel and to intelligently enter a plea.
In one case, Ciavarella sentenced a 10-year-old to two years in a detention facility for accidentally bottoming out his mother’s car.
According to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, over 5,000 young men and women were unjustly sentenced to prison and denied their constitutional rights. Many of them have now been released and cleared of their charges.
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has overturned some 4,000 convictions issued by him between 2003 and 2008, claiming he violated the constitutional rights of the juveniles – including the right to legal counsel and the right to intelligently enter a plea. Some of the juveniles he sentenced were as young as 10-years old.
Ciavarella was convicted of 12 counts, including racketeering, money laundering, mail fraud and tax evasion. He was also ordered to repay $1.2 million in restitution.
http://www.inquisitr.com/650905/judge-s ... sh-for-kids-scandal/
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