Luzerne County Judges

November 28, 2009

D.A. Musto Carroll petitions court to retry about 50 juveniles criminally

A sealed list has been submitted to the judge, but the number of retrials may be reduced.

By Terrie Morgan-Besecker tmorgan@timesleader.com
Law & Order Reporter
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Luzerne County District Attorney Jacqueline Musto Carroll said she has provided a list of juvenile cases she’s considering retrying to the judge overseeing the matter and expects an order will be issued soon detailing how the cases will proceed.

The sealed list was provided to Senior Berks County Judge Arthur Grim on Monday, Musto Carroll said. There are approximately 50 cases, she said, but that figure may be further reduced after additional meetings with probation officials and attorneys representing the juveniles.

County prosecutors have been reviewing cases since the state Supreme Court issued a ruling on Oct. 29 that vacated the convictions of roughly 6,500 juveniles who appeared before former Judge Mark Ciavarella from 2003 to 2008.

The high court found Ciavarella had violated the juveniles’ constitutional right to a fair trial. It barred retrials except in cases in which the juvenile is still in placement, on probation or owes fines and restitution.

Musto Carroll said her office carefully reviewed the cases to determine which ones to retry. Those decisions were based on several factors, including whether it was believed the child was still in need of treatment, whether the evidence was still available and whether the victim of the crime wished to pursue the case.

Now that the list has been compiled, prosecutors will to meet again with probation officials and defense attorneys to determine if the case can be resolved by some other means short of a retrial, she said.

“Juvenile probation will send out notices of retrial to the defendants and ask them to contact us. We’ll have discussions with their attorney prior to the case being retried,” she said.

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