Corrupt Kids For Cash Judge Faces Jury Decision

Ciavarella jury to return tomorrow morning
The Citizens Voice by Dave Janoski - February 17, 2011

SCRANTON, PA -- The jury in the kids-for-cash trial of former Luzerne County judge Mark A. Ciavarella Jr. has ended deliberations for the day and will return tomorrow morning at 8:30. U. S. District Judge Edwin Kosik announced the jury was leaving for the day at 3:55 p.m. after meeting for nearly 7 1/2 hours. The jury is trying to decide the guilt or innocence of Ciavarella, who is accused of accepting $2.8 million in kickbacks and bribes for placing juvenilies in for-profit detention centers. Ciavarella, his attorneys and several of his family members made small talk with members of the news media throughout the day outside of Kosik's courtroom. Federal prosecutors awaited the verdict in the U. S. Attorney's Office on another floor of the federal courthouse. Ciavarella could face decades in prison if convicted.

*********************Corrupt Kids For Cash Judge Trial Recap:

Monday, Feb. 7:

A six-man and six-woman jury is chosen from eight counties to hear the case of the United States of America v. Mark A. Ciavarella Jr.

Tuesday, Feb. 8:

IRS agent Ben Wylam details tracking payments to Ciavarella and another former judge, Michael T. Conahan. Nicholene DiPasquale of the Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts testifies Ciavarella did not report income prosecutors say he received from companies connected to two for-profit juvenile detention centers. Ex-Luzerne County Commissioner Thomas Makowski testifies to the closing of a county-owned juvenile detention center, opening the way for a private, for-profit center. Developer Robert K. Mericle begins his testimony on payments he made to Ciavarella as a reward for helping his company secure contracts to build two for-profit detention centers. Wednesday, Feb. 9: Mericle says he paid his close friends Ciavarella and Conahan $2.1 million in what he considered legal finder's fees for their help in securing construction contracts for the detention centers. He initially lied to federal agents and a grand jury about the payments to protect Ciavarella, he testifies. Robert J. Powell, former co-owner of the detention center, tells the court Ciavarella and Conahan pressed hard for kickbacks. He says he paid $590,000 to the judges disguised as rental payments on a Florida condo in 2004. He says he had another $143,500 in cash delivered to Conahan at Conahan's and Ciavarella's urging in 2006.

Thursday, Feb. 10:

Powell testifies Ciavarella and Conahan schemed to subvert a federal investigation into their finances. FBI agent James Glenn details how Ciavarella spotted his surveillance van outside a meeting he held with Conahan and Powell and repeatedly tried to open the van's locked doors. Patrick Owens, ex-treasurer of Powell's law firm, tells the jury he and another firm employee wrote and cashed more than a dozen checks, each worth less than $10,000 to avoid scrutiny by the U.S. Treasury Department, to amass $143,500 in cash at Powell's request in 2006. Powell testified the cash went to the judges. Former Conahan tipstaff Nick Callen testifies he delivered a sealed envelope and two sealed boxes from Powell to Conahan in 2005-2006. Powell law partner Jill A. Moran testifies she delivered two sealed boxes from Powell to Conahan in 2006.

Friday, Feb. 11:

Moran explains she delivered a FedEx box stuffed with cash to then-president judge Conahan at Powell's request in 2006. Doris Crowe, a state accountant, testifies the county received $6.5 million in federal funds to help pay for detaining juveniles at PA Child Care and other centers in 2002-2005. Paul McGarry, county human resources director, testifies Conahan instructed him to delete funding for a county-owned detention center from the proposed 2003 court budget. That cleared the way for Powell's for-profit center. Attorney Stephen Carpenito testifies he represented a company sued by Mericle before Ciavarella in January 2007. Ciavarella revealed he knew Mericle, but said they were not friends. Senior Deputy Attorney Timothy Keating testifies Conahan took steps to seal the record of a suit filed against two state Department of Public Welfare officials by Powell's PA Child Care LLC in 2004. Conahan did not reveal his friendship or financial ties to Powell, Keating said. Attorney Lawrence Durkin testifies Ciavarella ignored a motion to move a case against Mericle out of Luzerne County even though his client was from New York and the case involved a Lackawanna County property. Ciavarella did not reveal his ties to Mericle. Attorney Jeffrey McCarron testifies Ciavarella became irate when he asked if the judge had a personal relationship with Powell that would make it impossible for Ciavarella to be fair in a trial in which Powell represented the plaintiff. Lisa Davidson, the bookkeeper for Conahan's company, says Conahan instructed her to make false entries in the company's books to hide the fact $610,000 from Mericle went to Ciavarella, Conahan and a friend of Conahan's, Angela Sallemi. Accountant Michael DeCosmo, who prepared tax returns for Beverage Marketing and Pinnacle Group of Jupiter LLC, a company prosecutors say the judges used to launder kickbacks, tells the jury figures he used to prepare what prosecutors say were false returns came from Conahan and/or Davidson. Accountant Barry Spanial prepared personal tax returns for the Conahans and testifies Conahan asked him about the tax consequences of adding $105,000 to his 2003 income, but never reported that money when supplying tax documents to Spanial.

Monday, Feb. 14

Spanial says the Conahans reported $273,119 in taxable income on their 2006 return. An IRS agent later testified they actually had $394,580 in taxable income that year. Accountant Jerome Matlowski prepared the Ciavarellas' tax returns and says they never disclosed hundreds of thousands of dollars in alleged extra income in 2003 and reported more than $650,000 in rental income from a Florida condo in 2005 and 2006. Brian Bernston, a money laundering expert, testifies about various methods used to launder from illegal activity. IRS revenue agent Ray Eppley testifies Ciavarella and Conahan underreported income by $1.45 million and evaded $494,685 in federal taxes in 2003-2006. The defense began by calling Brian Stahl, Ciavarella's son-in-law, who testifies that Powell frequently visited the Ciavarella home in the company of the Conahans. Ciavarella's daughter, Nicole Oravic, testifies she worked part-time for the Powell Law Group in 2003-2005 and Powell was always very complimentary about her dad. Son Marco Ciavarella, testifies about a close, "very friendly" relationship between his dad and Powell. Wylam testifies he could not recall asking Powell in two interviews if Mark A. Ciavarella Jr. was present when Powell passed checks to Conahan. Under cross-examination, Wylam said Powell did tell him that he received instructions on wire transfers from Conahan and Ciavarella. Hazleton restauteur Gina Carrelli testifies she saw Powell pass cash to a state official, whom she did not name. She also testifies Powell claimed to have ownership stake in the Florida condo allegedly used to launder money.

Tuesday, Feb. 15:

Mark A. Ciavarella Jr. testifies he believed the finder's fees from Mericle and the rent payments from Powell were legitimate, but he admitted to filing false tax returns in 2003, 2005 and 2006 that omitted or mischaracterized the Mericle payments. Ciavarella denies extorting Powell and said he was unaware of any cash delivered to Conahan.

Wednesday, Feb. 16:

In closing arguments, Assistant U.S. Attorney Gordon Zubrod implores the jury to convict Ciavarella on all 39 counts, ranging from racketeering to money laundering. Defense attorney Al Flora Jr. concedes Ciavarella has admitted to filing false tax returns, but urged jurors to find Ciavarella not guilty on more serious counts of bribery and extortion.