'Kids-for-Cash" Judges Ask for Delay

Kids-for-cash judges Mark A. Ciavarella Jr. and Michael T. Conahan have asked a federal judge to put a hold on civil-rights actions filed by hundreds of former juvenile court defendants, arguing that mounting a defense in the civil cases would reveal information that could help prosecutors in their upcoming racketeering trial.

Ciavarella, 59, and Conahan, 57, are accused of accepting $2.8 million for directing county contracts and juvenile offenders to two for-profit detention centers. The former judges are expected to stand trial in U.S. District Court next year.

Hundreds of former defendants in Luzerne County Juvenile Court who argue they were unjustly imprisoned and denied their right to counsel as part of the alleged kids-for-cash scheme have sued Ciavarella, Conahan and other entities and individuals implicated in the scandal.

U.S. District Judge A. Richard Caputo gave the judges, who are representing themselves in the civil-rights cases, until Monday to file responses to those suits. Instead they filed motions seeking to put off their responses while the criminal charges are pending, effectively stalling the civil cases.

"Many of the allegations, if not all of the allegations" in the civil cases "are the same or similar to the allegations raised by" federal prosecutors in the criminal case, the judges argued in separate, but nearly identical motions.

Requiring responses to the civil suits now would jeopardize the former judges' Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination and "expose the basis of defendant's defense to the prosecution in advance of a criminal trial," the motions say. On the other hand, the plaintiffs in the civil cases will not be unduly harmed by a delay, the motions argue.

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Former Judges Ask For Delay in Civil Rights Suits