Kids For Cash Did Not Have The Opportunity To Make A Plea

Boy, some people have all the nerve.

The kids he sent to his buddy's juvenile delinquent facility did not get the opportunity to make a plea for freedom, particularly when they were being drugged and tortured.

One youth even committed suicide, and he thinks he can plea his way to release?

I wonder how many parents had their parental rights terminated, and their children adopted out because of his greed.

Kids for Cash judge makes plea for freedom

Prosecutors said Ciavarella and fellow county Judge Michael Conahan received nearly $3 million in kickback payments from developers of private developers of juvenile detention centers and improperly channeled juvenile offenders to those centers, often without appointing attorneys to represent the youths.

Ciavarella, who is trying to void a 28-year federal prison term that he contends is essentially a life sentence, is arguing that his original lawyer's failure to try to invoke a statute of limitations claim was fatal to his defense at trial.

During Thursday's hearing, prosecutors, including Assistant U.S. Attorney William Houser, challenged that assertion. They argued that Ciavarella's convictions were valid because he committed crimes, including the filing of false financial reports, that fell within the statute of limitations.

The focus was on Ciavarella's conviction on an honest wire services mail fraud charge tied to his receipt in 2003 of a $997,600 "finder's fee" for assistance in building a juvenile detention center in his county.

Wilson argued that the statute of limitations should have barred prosecutors from charging Ciavarella for any offenses that supposedly occurred before September 2004.

She asked Ciavarella's trial lawyer, Al Flora, if the statute of limitations argument could have been raised at trial without undercutting the defense's main contention that the judge had not committed any crime.

"That is not inconsistent with arguing that there were no bribes or kickbacks," Flora replied.

Conner told prosecutors to provide written post-hearing arguments on the statute of limitations issue and the matter of, "Am I constrained to find the trial counsel's performance was defective?" Also, they are to address whether the defense's failure to use a statute of limitations defense likely altered the trial's outcome.

Conner told Wilson to address prosecution claims that Ciavarella committed crimes related to the 2003 finder's fee - such as filing allegedly false financial interest reports - that did fall within the statute of limitations.

Ciavarella has already won one round on appeal. The U.S. Court of Appeals vacated one of his mail fraud convictions on statute of limitations grounds in 2013, but left his overall sentence intact.

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