PA Attorney General Joins Petition Against Luzerne County Court
May 17, 2008 in Freak Show Trial by Freak-Show-Trial
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In the brief, Calvin R. Koons, the senior deputy to state Attorney General Tom Corbett, and John G. Knorr, the chief of the appellate litigation section, outlined their support for a petition filed last month by an advocacy group that is seeking emergency relief from the court for hundreds of Luzerne County juveniles it claimed were run through the system without legal representation. Citizens Voice.
As previously reported, The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania has statutes providing for something called King’s Bench Jurisdiction. The King’s Bench Power allows the Supreme Courts of Pennsylvania to take immediate jurisiction over cases that are of extraordinary public importance.
The Philadelphia based Juvenile Law Center filed a petition with the Supreme Court asking the court to take immediate jurisdiction over more than 500 criminal cases involving juveniles before President Judge Mark Ciavarella. A Pennsylvania Child Welfare Agency had previously joined in the Petition. As shown above, The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania’ Attorney General has also joined in the petition AGAINST Judge Mark Ciavarella.
Former President Judge Michael Conahan and Juveniles in Luzerne County
Judge Michael Conahan was President Judge of Luzerne County Court of Common Pleas before Judge Mark Ciavarella became the court’s president Judge. According to political blogs out of Luzerne County, Mark Ciavarella was in fact Conahan’s hand picked successor as President Judge. So, you have to wonder how RADICALLY DIFFERENT the practices of Mark Ciavarella are versus what Michael Conahan was doing before him when Conahan was in charge of Juvenile Court for Luzerne County.
ALSO, there was a previous scandal involving The Luzerne County Court for Juveniles and Michael Conahan with respect to Judge Michael Conahan unilaterally deciding that the State Approved Juvenile Detention Facilty was UNFIT. After ruling that the state approved juvenile detention facility was unfit, Conahan started sending detained juveniles to a facility operated by Parties alleged to be associates/friends of Conahan. It was recently reported out of Luzerne County that Conahan’s brother-in-law has collected more than $1 million dollars in fees as a psychologists for Luzerne County’s Juvenile Court System.
The Current Scandal involving Judge Mark Ciavarella and Luzerne County Juvenile Court has to eventually lead right back to Judge Michael Conahan and his actions when he presided over Juvenile Court for Luzerne County.
Judge Michael Conahan announed that he would retire from The Luzerne County Court of Common Pleas ON THE SUNDAY before Harlow Cuadra and Joseph Kerekes were arrested. Conahan was also The Judge who presided over Bryan Kocis’ 2002 guilty plea and the 2006 “correction” to that guilty plea. Attorney Al Flora, Jr, second in command of the Luzerne County Public Defender’s Office, was Bryan Kocis’ lawyer in 2002 and 2006.
Cargo deal makes for familiar bedfellows
Luzerne County Court of Common Pleas Judge Michael Conahan, a player in the juvenile detention center issue, has surfaced in the case with Paragon Park.
Conahan, president judge at the time that Gladstone and PCA initiated the case against Knosp’s park, assigned himself to hear a motion on the issue and directed all future filings in the case to be directed to him.
Conahan had acknowledged meeting with Zappala to discuss the detention center proposal.
Difference of opinion
Urban had charged that Conahan overstepped his bounds by meeting with Zappala before Zappala’s company’s proposal was considered by the commissioners. Conahan said he would refuse to send juveniles to an existing county juvenile detention facility even though the state agreed to renew its license.
Conahan had said he decided to stop sending juveniles to the county facility beginning in January 2003 because it was “antiquated” and lacked adequate medical and educational facilities.
When PA Child Care sued former county Controller Steve Flood and the state Auditor General’s Office to prevent them from making public the audit critical of the detention center lease, Conahan sealed the lawsuit at PA Child Care’s request.
A higher court said Conahan was wrong to seal the lawsuit.
The ruling stemmed from the Times Leader’s appeal of Conahan’s sealing order. Conahan sealed the suit at the request of PA Child Care without notice to the other parties. The judge refused the newspaper’s plea to intervene in the lawsuit.
Now, Conahan is in a position to hear a case that could affect Gladstone Partners’ land deal with PCA Corp.
He was scheduled to hear arguments for the dismissal of Knosp’s appeal last Monday. But Conahan was sick, and Lycoming County Judge Clinton Smith heard the arguments on Wednesday. He dismissed the appeal, saying it was filed after statutory limits expired.
Knosp’s attorney, James Scallion, said he plans to use another avenue of appeal in county court. Skyscraperpage.com Highbeam.com