Luzerne County Courthouse. State high court
to review cases that were brought before
former Luzerne County Judge Mark Ciavarella
to decide if anyone was improperly sentenced.
WILKES-BARRE – The state Supreme Court has agreed to review juvenile cases prosecuted in Luzerne County to determine whether any youth were improperly sentenced to detention, Chief Justice Ronald D. Castille announced Monday.
The court agreed to exercise its king’s bench powers – an extraordinary action reserved only for the cases that are of immediate public importance – to review cases that were brought before former Judge Mark Ciavarella, the county’s longtime juvenile court judge.
The ruling comes one week after federal authorities charged Ciavarella and Judge Michael Conahan with accepting more than $2.6 million in kickbacks in exchange for rulings that benefited a local juvenile detention center.
Prosecutors allege Ciavarella, as part of the scheme, directed some youth be placed in detention even when juvenile probation officers recommended the child be allowed to return home.
“The court views this matter with grave concern,” Castille said in a press release issued by the Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts.
The court’s ruling vacates a prior order it issued that denied a petition filed by the Juvenile Law Center in Philadelphia. That petition asked the court to review hundreds of cases in which youth appeared before Ciavarella without an attorney.
The high court, without comment, rejected that petition on Jan. 8. The law center filed a renewed petition last week based on the filing of charges against the judges.
The new petition asks the court to review every case that came before Ciavarella in which a youth was detained -- from 2003 until May 2008, when he stopped presiding over juvenile court.
Marsha Levick, an attorney with the Juvenile Law Center, said it was not immediately clear whether the court will review all cases, or just those identified in the initial petition.
“What this means is the court has granted the application. The details have yet to be filled in. We need to await further order from the court to know precisely how they intend to exercise their power,” she said. “The key is they granted it. They recognize the significant public importance of what’s at stake here. We are grateful they’ve made this turnaround.”
Luzerne County District Attorney Jacqueline Musto Carroll, who had opposed the law center’s petition on procedural grounds, said she had not yet reviewed the court’s order. She said she’s committed to working with the court and law center.
“The position of my office is we want to see justice done for juveniles as well as the commonwealth. Anything that gets us to that point is something we agree with,” she said.
In a related matter, the law center said it has received inquiries from about 40 families interested in attending an informational meeting it will hold Wednesday in Wilkes-Barre.
The meeting will provide guidance to parents regarding how to proceed to seek a review of their child’s case or expungement of their child’s juvenile record.
In order to protect families’ privacy, the location of the meeting is being revealed only to persons directly impacted. To obtain more information, contact the Juvenile Law Center at 800-875-8887 or e-mail luzernefamilies@jlc.org.
State high court to review cases that were brought before former Luzerne County Judge Mark Ciavarella to decide if anyone was improperly sentenced.
