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Federal sentencing fall-out from juve sentencing corruption

By Douglas A. Berman

Regular readers will recall last week's remarkable story of two Pennsylvania state judges who to plead guilty to taking millions in kickbacks to send teenagers to two privately run youth detention centers.  This new local story reports on a fascinating federal sentencing echo from that case: The fallout from disgraced Luzerne County Judge Mark A. Ciavarella Jr.?s handling of juvenile court cases has now spread to the federal court system.  On Tuesday, a lawyer for Justin Plesh, a Hazleton man awaiting sentencing in a marijuana trafficking case in U.S. District Court, asked that a marijuana possession case handled by Ciavarella in 2003 not be considered in determining Plesh?s sentence under federal guidelines. Plesh was 16 in May 2003 when Ciavarella sent him to a juvenile detention center, according to a motion filed by his federal public defender...continue to full post

Full post as published by Sentencing Law and Policy on February 18, 2009 (boomark / email).