It is hard to think of anything more perverse than a judge assigning The Victim’s Lawyer to represent The Accused in a fucking death penalty murder case.

If Luzerne County can get away with continuing to prosecute Harlow Cuadra inspite of the fact that Bryan Kocis’s Lawyer Al Flora, Jr was assigned to represent Cuadra WITHOUT Cuadra’s consent, then, Luzerne County is capable of anything. If Luzerne County can get way with assigning The Victim’s Lawyer to represent The Accused in a death penalty murder case, then we are all in danger.

The Signs Are There That Luzerne County Has Gone Too Far

There are some very clear signs that President Judge Mark Ciavarella went too far when he refused to assign conflict counsel to represent Harlow Cuadra and instead assigned the Luzerne County Public Defender’s Office to represent Cuadra (when two attorneys in the Public Defender’s Office, Blum and Flora, were attorneys for The Victim Bryan Kocis).

The Most Obvious Sign that Luzerne County Court went too far when it assigned The Victim’s Lawyer to represent The Accused is the motion by Jackie Musto-Carroll’s Office to disqualify The Public Defender from representing Harlow Cuadra. Since when does a prosecutor care how it obtains a conviction? The Motion by Jackie Musto-Carroll’s DA Office is a BREAK by Musto-Carroll with The Good Ole Boy Network. Musto-Carroll appears to be threatening to drop all charges against Cuadra rather than participate in the perversity of prosecuting a guy for murder when the guy is represented by The Victim’s Lawyer (and the Victim’s Relatives’ Lawyer).

If Musto-Carroll IS making a very public break with The Good Ole Boys on the Luzerne County Court, WHY is she doing so? Did witnessing The Good Ole Boys LYNCH the only Female Judge on the Court of Common Pleas (Judge Anne Lokuta) cause Musto-Carroll to BREAK AWAY? Or, does Musto-Carrol know that federal indictments of Luzerne County Officials are going in 2008?

There Must Be A Way Outta Here

The only “graceful” way out for Luzerne County in this whole Victim’s Lawyer Representing The Accused Fiasco is for Jackie Musto-Carroll to drop all charges against Harlow Cuadra.

In general, you don’t “appeal” a judge’s order by re-filing s motion asking for the same relief and hope it get decided by a different judge. Since President Judge Mark Ciavarella stepped into Judge Olszewski’s case and decided the first motion to disqualify the Luzerne County Public Defender from representing Harlow Cuadra, the way to “contest” the order of Judge Ciavarell is to file a formal appeal (now if the order assigning counsel is immediately appealable or, after a verdict if the order is not immediately appealable). Clearly,

Lawyers for Harlow Cuadra did not file a formal appeal of the order of Judge Ciavarella refusing to assign conflict counsel to Harlow Cuadra. Instead, The Luzerne County DA filed a motion identical to the motion The Defense filed, a motion that was denied by Judge Mark Ciavarella.

So, there is clearly a “oddity” here. The Court, in the form of the interceding Judge Ciavarella, has already denied a motion requesting the relief which Prosecutors are now requesting with their motion. Technically, the Prosecution’s motion to disqualify The Public Defender’s Office should be denied because the issue has already been decided (i.e, it is the law of the case). Just another fucking mess in a court system described as dysfunctional.

I would point out that the “dysfunctional” description for Luzerne County’s Court of Common Pleas came as a result of testimony from Judge Anne Lokuta that President Judge Michael Conahan stepped into her cases and decided motions for some “unknown reason”, in the same way that President Judge Mark Ciavarella stepped into Harlow Cuadra’s case and decided motions.

What is the “graceful” way out of this one?

Well, from where we sit, it would be “a tad contrary to legal procedure” for Judge Olszewski to now grant relief that has already been denied by President Judge Ciavarella. First of all, President Judge Ciavarella is technically Judge Olszewski’s “supervisor”. And, as we said, in general, the procedure for appealing a judge’s order is to file an appeal, NOT to file the motion again and hope it gets decided by the actual judge assigned to the case. However, if Judge Mark Ciavarella’s order refusing to assign conflict counsel to Harlow Cuadra is allowed to stand, SOMEBODY IN AUTHORITY (read THE FEDs or The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania’s Judicial Misconduct Commission) might just decide that Luzerne County Courts are indeed out of control.

Oh, it should be pointed out here that one of Luzerne County’s newspapers last week finally printed what we reported some time ago, i.e., that attorney Al Flora, Jr. is still on retainer by Bryan Kocis’ Relatives. Attorney Al Flora, Jr. is currently still the lawyer for Bryan Kocis’ relatives and, apparently, Bryan Kocis’ Estate.

So, Which Way Out? The only person in Luzerne County who appears to be concerned about looking like a total buffoon in Jackie Musto-Carroll. The only person in Luzerne County with a career that looks like it can be salvaged is Jackie Musto-Carroll. So, as we said, THE WAY OUT is for Jackie Musto-Carroll to drop all judges against Harlow Cuadra and then “threaten” to re-file charges at a later date.