Former Luzerne County Judge Michael T. Conahan claimed he has "judicial and legislative immunity" from the latest in a series of lawsuits filed in the aftermath of the Luzerne County kids-for-cash scandal.Conahan, acting as his own attorney, asked to be dismissed from a lawsuit filed in December in which a former juvenile defendant claimed he was sentenced to six months at a private detention facility based solely on the number of birds perched on the ledge outside the courtroom.
Conahan, who served as the county's president judge from 2002 to 2006, said he was acting "legislatively" when he forced the closure of the county-owned detention center in 2003 and asked county commissioners to fund an exclusive agreement with the private facility.
Conahan and the former judge who allegedly issued the bird-brained sentence, Mark A. Ciavarella Jr., have already been hit with civil-rights claims from hundreds of other juveniles and a 48-count racketeering indictment for allegedly pocketing $2.8 million in kickbacks from the backers of the private facilities.
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Conahan Claims Immunity in Latest Kids-For-Cash Suit
the nerve of this former judge doing wrong and then claiming immunity so now what?
ReplyDeleteWait till all the birds come back North and start counting!
ReplyDeleteI thought no one was supposed to be above the law!
ReplyDeleteANYONE REMEMBER THIS?:
ReplyDeleteAugust 5, 1983
OPERATION GREYLORD
A federal probe of court corruption sets the standard for future investigations
By Maurice Possley
Chicago Tribune
It was a Friday, and a group of lawyers--some prosecutors, some defense attorneys--had gathered in a Loop hotel on this day for a bachelor party.
But the celebrating stopped when the television news broke this stunning story: For three years, the FBI had been running an undercover operation aimed at Cook County's court system. It featured at least one undercover operative and a listening device in a judge's chambers.
One lawyer in the room--Terrence Hake--was not surprised by the news. Disgusted with the corruption that permeated the Cook County court system, he had become the FBI's mole in its unprecedented investigation of judicial corruption.
First as a prosecutor and later as a defense lawyer, Hake had burrowed into the dark side of justice, handing out bribes to fix cases concocted by the FBI.Four months after the Greylord investigation was revealed, the first indictments were announced, naming two judges, a former judge, three attorneys, two court clerks and a police officer. "I believe this will be viewed as one of the most comprehensive, intricate and difficult undercover projects ever undertaken by a law-enforcement agency," U.S. Atty. Dan Webb said in announcing those charges.
The allegations ranged from fixing drunken-driving cases to more serious felony charges. One lawyer was caught on tape bragging that "even a murder case can be fixed if the judge is given something to hang his hat on." By the end of the decade, nearly 100 people had been indicted, and all but a handful were convicted. Of the 17 judges indicted, 15 were convicted.
The tally of convictions included 50 lawyers, as well as court clerks, police officers and sheriff's deputies.
Greylord was not the first federal investigation of public corruption in Chicago, but it was a watershed in its use of eavesdropping devices and a mole to obtain evidence instead of relying on wrongdoers to become government informants.
Over the next several years, federal authorities launched similar investigations targeted at corruption in Chicago's City Hall (including Operations Incubator and Silver Shovel), other governmental bodies (Operation Lantern) and organized crime (Operation Gambat and Safebet).
Scores of public officials, including aldermen, judges and legislators, were convicted.
This makes me so angry. The judicial system is totally broken! How can this judge claim immunity? He is NOT above the law.
ReplyDeletenow that I have quit laughing so hard ..... allow me to comment
ReplyDeletelolololololololohhhhahahaha
immunity, right
seriously however, in Barb Johnson's book --- "Failed Justice .. Behind the Black Robes"
ReplyDeleteBarb explains very well why the immunity defense is flawed and why it needs to be abolished....
The do the same thing to old people with a little dementia and available cash! The call it guardianship!
ReplyDeleteThis judge already got partial immunity.
ReplyDeletehttp://reason.com/blog/2009/11/25/pennsylvania-judges-get-partia