Legal News

Accusations in Pa. Judicial Corruption Case Continue to Fly

By Ashby Jones

Associated Press

Michael Conahan, center, leaves the federal courthouse in Scranton, Pa., on Thursday, Feb. 12, 2009. (AP Photo/David Kidwell)

Turns out, it’s alleged-judicial-misconduct morning here at LB central.

The latest: One of the two Pennsylvania judges who pleaded guilty last week to taking part in a shocking kickback scheme seems to be finding himself in a bit more hot water.

Mark Ciavarella Jr. has been accused by a Wilkes-Barre, Pa., newspaper of fixing an unrelated defamation case in which he ordered the paper to pay $3.5 million. Click here for the NYT story from over the weekend; here for the story from the Wilkes-Barre Citizens Voice, the paper involved in the defamation case, and here for the petition filed by the Citizens Voice.

The accusation was filed Thursday with the State Supreme Court asking that the award be overturned. The petition maintains that Ciavarella may have had close ties to a reputed mobster at the heart of the defamation case and that the award should be reviewed in light of the corruption to which Ciavarella has now admitted.

In 2006, Judge Ciavarella awarded $2 million to a businessman, Thomas Joseph, and $1.5 million to Mr. Joseph’s direct-mail marketing firm in a suit in which Joseph alleged that the Citizens Voice had defamed him by tying him to a money-laundering case involving William D’Elia, reputed head of the Bufalino crime family in northeastern Pennsylvania.

In its new petition, the paper said Judges Ciavarella and Michael Conahan had skirted established procedures for the assigning of cases in order to keep this case for themselves. According to the petition, they had help from the court administrator, William Sharkey, Judge Conahan’s cousin.

The newspaper said the recent developments in the continuing investigation of the former judges’ conduct on the bench “have fueled rampant rumors and speculation that Judge Conahan and Judge Ciavarella were fixing cases at the behest of William D’Elia.”

“The unusual handling of judicial assignments in Joseph v. Scranton Times, the scope and subject of newspaper articles in question, and a cascade of recent revelations regarding corruption in the Luzerne County Court of Common Pleas strongly suggest the $3.5 million non-jury verdict was fixed …” the petition says.

Lawyers for the two former judges declined to comment to the NYT.

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on February 23, 2009 (boomark / email).