Thousands of juvenile corruption cases in Luzerne County will be voided. That decision came Thursday from the state supreme court.
The court said the rulings in thousands of juvenile cases handled by a judge charged with corruption will be voided.
This involves former Luzerne County judge Mark Ciavarella who was once head of juvenile court. He handled thousands of cases from 2003 until 2008 and Thursday the state supreme court decided his rulings in all those cases will be vacated.
That means those cases are voided, meaning the ruling made by Judge Ciavarella are canceled.
There's no definite word yet whether all the juvenile records would be wiped completely clean.
In its ruling, the state supreme court supports the recommendation of a special judge brought in to look into the juvenile matter in Luzerne County.
He decided Ciavarella, who is facing federal racketeering and other corruption charges with former judge Michael Conahan, was so tainted by being involved in a kickback scheme that he violated all of those juveniles' rights by sending many of them to a privately-run juvenile detention center.
"Whether or not a juvenile was represented by counsel, and whether or not a juvenile was committed to one of the facilities which secretly funneled money to Ciavarella and Conahan, this Court cannot have any confidence that Ciavarella decided any Luzerne County juvenile cases fairly and impartially while he labored under the specter of his self-interested dealings with the facilities," the supreme court stated.
In the ruling, the state supreme court justices said Ciavarella so tainted each one of those juvenile cases that wiping the slate clean is the right thing to do.
There is no definite word yet whether all the juvenile records would be wiped completely clean. The Luzerne County district attorney said she now has 30 days to tell the supreme court which cases she would like to retry.
The court said the rulings in thousands of juvenile cases handled by a judge charged with corruption will be voided.
This involves former Luzerne County judge Mark Ciavarella who was once head of juvenile court. He handled thousands of cases from 2003 until 2008 and Thursday the state supreme court decided his rulings in all those cases will be vacated.
That means those cases are voided, meaning the ruling made by Judge Ciavarella are canceled.
There's no definite word yet whether all the juvenile records would be wiped completely clean.
In its ruling, the state supreme court supports the recommendation of a special judge brought in to look into the juvenile matter in Luzerne County.
He decided Ciavarella, who is facing federal racketeering and other corruption charges with former judge Michael Conahan, was so tainted by being involved in a kickback scheme that he violated all of those juveniles' rights by sending many of them to a privately-run juvenile detention center.
"Whether or not a juvenile was represented by counsel, and whether or not a juvenile was committed to one of the facilities which secretly funneled money to Ciavarella and Conahan, this Court cannot have any confidence that Ciavarella decided any Luzerne County juvenile cases fairly and impartially while he labored under the specter of his self-interested dealings with the facilities," the supreme court stated.
In the ruling, the state supreme court justices said Ciavarella so tainted each one of those juvenile cases that wiping the slate clean is the right thing to do.
There is no definite word yet whether all the juvenile records would be wiped completely clean. The Luzerne County district attorney said she now has 30 days to tell the supreme court which cases she would like to retry.
