Winter Woman
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Remember this one? It was posted a while ago, here is the ending.
Ex-Luzerne County judge sentenced to 17 1/2 years in jail
By Dave Janoski (staff writer djanoski@citizensvoice.com)
Published: September 24, 2011
Mark Moran/staff photo Former Luzerne County Judge Michael T. Conahan arrives for his sentencing Friday at the U.S. Court-house in Scranton.
SCRANTON - Michael T. Conahan's upbringing by a domineering, brutal father who cut ethical corners as the mayor of Hazleton laid the seeds for the kids-for-cash scheme that landed the former Luzerne County judge in federal prison for 17 1/2 years Friday, his attorney said.
"He comes from a family with a patriarch who drove his children to success and used money as a barometer of that success. He was taught the ends justified the means," defense attorney Philip Gelso told the court.
In an apologetic statement to the court, Conahan said two years of therapy led him to "understand all the wrong that I've done and why I did it and to try and understand how I can atone for it."
Conahan, 59, was taken into federal custody following his sentencing by U.S. District Judge Edwin M. Kosik, who also ordered the former judge to pay nearly $900,000 in restitution and fines.
Kosik recommended the sentence be served at a minimum-security prison camp in Florida, where Conahan's wife recently purchased a home. The U.S. Bureau of Prisons, which is not bound by the recommendation, declined comment on Conahan's whereabouts Friday evening.
Gelso's statement to the court was based largely on a report by Conahan's psychologist, who also interviewed many of Conahan's relatives. Portions of the report were provided to the court but not made public.
Gelso said Conahan "was beaten mercilessly" by his father when he was a teenager "for simply forgetting to stoke the family furnace at the funeral home" operated by the family.
His childhood left him with deep insecurities and inadequacies that he repressed with alcohol, according to Gelso. Drinking also helped Conahan "ignore the consequences" of the kids-for-cash conspiracy to reap $2.8 million in kickbacks for placing juveniles in two for-profit prisons, Gelso said.
"Your Honor, these factors excuse nothing, but they explain a great deal," he said.
Two years ago, Conahan's refusal to accept full responsibility for the kids-for-cash scheme led Kosik to reject a plea deal that would have resulted in an 87-month prison term. But now, after extensive therapy, Conahan had faced "the many demons of his past" and was ready to apologize "with sincerity and humility," Gelso said.
Reading from a written statement, Conahan, who pleaded guilty to a single count of conspiracy, apologized profusely to the juveniles who were imprisoned as part of the scheme and to the court staffers, attorneys and citizens of Luzerne County.
"What I did was wrong, what I did damaged a great many people and I hope that going forward, the citizens, the public and, most importantly, the children of Luzerne County, can begin to heal and that their faith in the legal system, in government and the judiciary can be restored," Conahan said. "For my part, I will work the rest of my life to atone for what I've done."
Before imposing a sentence, Kosik returned to the psychologist's report and Conahan's relationship to his father, Joseph, a longtime mayor of Hazleton, funeral director and trucking-company owner who died in 1984.
Kosik noted that one of Conahan's four sisters told the psychologist that the kids-for-cash case reminded her of an incident in her father's political career when he was charged with an ethics violation for awarding a contract to a friend.
The elder Conahan "couldn't understand why people considered it an ethical violation, because he was awarding a contract to a friend, because he thought that friend's work would benefit the community. She said their father never understood this. He couldn't see what the problem was," Kosik said.
Conahan's sister told the psychologist:
"In some ways, I think Mike looked at the juvenile center in the same way, in that everyone was going to benefit and that no one was going to get hurt."
Conahan, who was the county's president judge, closed an aging county-owned detention center in 2003, claiming it was decrepit and dangerous, just as a new, for-profit center was to open in Pittston Township. A year earlier, he had signed an agreement to send juveniles to the new center, which was co-owned by a friend, attorney Robert J. Powell. The agreement was not made public but it allowed Powell to secure construction financing.
In entering a guilty plea last year, Conahan admitted he and the county's juvenile court judge, Mark A. Ciavarella Jr., were paid $2.8 million by Powell and the builder of the center, Robert K. Mericle, who was a close friend of Ciavarella.
Conahan's apologetic court appearance Friday stood in striking contrast to that of Ciavarella, who roundly criticized prosecutors and a key prosecution witness at his sentencing last month and continued to deny a "kids-for-cash" conspiracy. Ciavarella, who was sentenced to 28 years on 12 counts by Kosik, is pursuing an appeal.
Assistant U.S. Attorney William Houser told Kosik he should take the two men's differing attitudes into account in fashioning Conahan's sentence Friday.
"The government asks that you also sentence Michael Conahan to a lengthy prison sentence, which nevertheless takes into account the fact that unlike Mr. Ciavarella, Mr. Conahan did not put the community through the expense and emotional distress of a trial," Houser said.
Federal guidelines called for a sentence of 17 1/2 to 20 years in Conahan's case, according to defense attorney Arthur T. Donato Jr.
Like Ciavarella, Conahan was accompanied to court by a large retinue of family members and friends, including his wife, Barbara, many of his eight siblings and other relatives and supporters. The Conahans have no children.
U.S. Marshals cleared the courtroom of media and members of the public after the sentencing so Conahan and his supporters could say a final goodbye.
Ex-Luzerne County judge sentenced to 17 1/2 years in jail
By Dave Janoski (staff writer djanoski@citizensvoice.com)
Published: September 24, 2011
Mark Moran/staff photo Former Luzerne County Judge Michael T. Conahan arrives for his sentencing Friday at the U.S. Court-house in Scranton.
SCRANTON - Michael T. Conahan's upbringing by a domineering, brutal father who cut ethical corners as the mayor of Hazleton laid the seeds for the kids-for-cash scheme that landed the former Luzerne County judge in federal prison for 17 1/2 years Friday, his attorney said.
"He comes from a family with a patriarch who drove his children to success and used money as a barometer of that success. He was taught the ends justified the means," defense attorney Philip Gelso told the court.
In an apologetic statement to the court, Conahan said two years of therapy led him to "understand all the wrong that I've done and why I did it and to try and understand how I can atone for it."
Conahan, 59, was taken into federal custody following his sentencing by U.S. District Judge Edwin M. Kosik, who also ordered the former judge to pay nearly $900,000 in restitution and fines.
Kosik recommended the sentence be served at a minimum-security prison camp in Florida, where Conahan's wife recently purchased a home. The U.S. Bureau of Prisons, which is not bound by the recommendation, declined comment on Conahan's whereabouts Friday evening.
Gelso's statement to the court was based largely on a report by Conahan's psychologist, who also interviewed many of Conahan's relatives. Portions of the report were provided to the court but not made public.
Gelso said Conahan "was beaten mercilessly" by his father when he was a teenager "for simply forgetting to stoke the family furnace at the funeral home" operated by the family.
His childhood left him with deep insecurities and inadequacies that he repressed with alcohol, according to Gelso. Drinking also helped Conahan "ignore the consequences" of the kids-for-cash conspiracy to reap $2.8 million in kickbacks for placing juveniles in two for-profit prisons, Gelso said.
"Your Honor, these factors excuse nothing, but they explain a great deal," he said.
Two years ago, Conahan's refusal to accept full responsibility for the kids-for-cash scheme led Kosik to reject a plea deal that would have resulted in an 87-month prison term. But now, after extensive therapy, Conahan had faced "the many demons of his past" and was ready to apologize "with sincerity and humility," Gelso said.
Reading from a written statement, Conahan, who pleaded guilty to a single count of conspiracy, apologized profusely to the juveniles who were imprisoned as part of the scheme and to the court staffers, attorneys and citizens of Luzerne County.
"What I did was wrong, what I did damaged a great many people and I hope that going forward, the citizens, the public and, most importantly, the children of Luzerne County, can begin to heal and that their faith in the legal system, in government and the judiciary can be restored," Conahan said. "For my part, I will work the rest of my life to atone for what I've done."
Before imposing a sentence, Kosik returned to the psychologist's report and Conahan's relationship to his father, Joseph, a longtime mayor of Hazleton, funeral director and trucking-company owner who died in 1984.
Kosik noted that one of Conahan's four sisters told the psychologist that the kids-for-cash case reminded her of an incident in her father's political career when he was charged with an ethics violation for awarding a contract to a friend.
The elder Conahan "couldn't understand why people considered it an ethical violation, because he was awarding a contract to a friend, because he thought that friend's work would benefit the community. She said their father never understood this. He couldn't see what the problem was," Kosik said.
Conahan's sister told the psychologist:
"In some ways, I think Mike looked at the juvenile center in the same way, in that everyone was going to benefit and that no one was going to get hurt."
Conahan, who was the county's president judge, closed an aging county-owned detention center in 2003, claiming it was decrepit and dangerous, just as a new, for-profit center was to open in Pittston Township. A year earlier, he had signed an agreement to send juveniles to the new center, which was co-owned by a friend, attorney Robert J. Powell. The agreement was not made public but it allowed Powell to secure construction financing.
In entering a guilty plea last year, Conahan admitted he and the county's juvenile court judge, Mark A. Ciavarella Jr., were paid $2.8 million by Powell and the builder of the center, Robert K. Mericle, who was a close friend of Ciavarella.
Conahan's apologetic court appearance Friday stood in striking contrast to that of Ciavarella, who roundly criticized prosecutors and a key prosecution witness at his sentencing last month and continued to deny a "kids-for-cash" conspiracy. Ciavarella, who was sentenced to 28 years on 12 counts by Kosik, is pursuing an appeal.
Assistant U.S. Attorney William Houser told Kosik he should take the two men's differing attitudes into account in fashioning Conahan's sentence Friday.
"The government asks that you also sentence Michael Conahan to a lengthy prison sentence, which nevertheless takes into account the fact that unlike Mr. Ciavarella, Mr. Conahan did not put the community through the expense and emotional distress of a trial," Houser said.
Federal guidelines called for a sentence of 17 1/2 to 20 years in Conahan's case, according to defense attorney Arthur T. Donato Jr.
Like Ciavarella, Conahan was accompanied to court by a large retinue of family members and friends, including his wife, Barbara, many of his eight siblings and other relatives and supporters. The Conahans have no children.
U.S. Marshals cleared the courtroom of media and members of the public after the sentencing so Conahan and his supporters could say a final goodbye.
