Local Commentary

Mark Guydish

August 24

Endless denial sends judge to near eternity in prison Mark Guydish Commentary

IN THE end, Mark Ciavarella learned the exact cost of his convictions: 20 years, 9 months.

That’s the difference between the sentence in his original plea bargain and the result of insisting he would not agree to be charged with a crime he insists he didn’t commit.

Ciavarella, Luzerne County’s disgraced former juvenile court judge, passionately played his broken record one more time before his sentencing Thursday: He never traded “kids for cash,” he adamantly insisted.

“There was no believable, credible evidence that would establish a connection between the money I received and the children I placed. It never happened. But because of those three words, I have been publicly convicted of a crime I never committed. I will live the rest of my life with the stigma of placing children for money -- a crime which never occurred and, more importantly, for which I never had the opportunity to defend against.”

Ciavarella has admitted he took millions from Robert Mericle, the builder of two PA Child Care juvenile facilities. He admits he took money from attorney Robert Powell, the co-owner of the facilities at the time. He admits he tried to hide that money. He admits he sent juveniles to those facilities. What he rejects is any link between the money and where the children were sent.

For the average person, it’s a distinction without a difference. He took the money, he sent the kids, he hid the fact. Whether or not he saw the money as payment for sending the kids to PA Child Care is irrelevant. Of course he convinced himself there was no connection. Otherwise, how could he sleep?

But to Ciavarella, it was a distinction of epic proportions. “I took the money; I sent the kids” sounds OK to him. “I took the money for sending the kids” is unacceptable. He has vehemently denied the allegation for more than two years. On Thursday, the denials started sounding pathological:

Prosecutors never brought up “kids for cash” in the trial because they had no credible proof … The jury drew an unreasonable conclusion … The investigation by the Interbranch Commission on Juvenile Justice was flawed … He ran his court no differently than any other juvenile judge … He never violated the rights of any children …

It is his refusal to accept the “kids for cash” label that got him where he is. He conceded as much Thursday. He vowed that the only reason he didn’t strike a plea bargain was because he could not let that accusation go unchallenged.

Yes, he said, he lost his job, his reputation and his freedom, “but I will never lose my will to fight against individuals who say I took cash to put children in placement when I never did.”

For this reason he gambled his freedom. For this reason he saw his sentence go from 87 months to 336 months. For this reason he gave up the chance to be free at the age of 68 and instead probably will not escape cell walls until he is 89 (barring a successful appeal).

Ciavarella said he chose to fight because his daughter swore she would not talk to him if he pleaded to a crime he did not commit. Now they’ll talk, but always through a screen or across a prison table, as he serves the sentence handed down for the crimes a jury decided he did commit.

And still he doesn’t get it.

Earlier in Thursday’s hearing, U.S. Assistant Attorney Gordon Zubrod reached into his bag of analogies and found the perfect response to Ciavarella’s lament.

“Mr. Ciavarella says, ‘I was not selling kids retail,’” Zubrod said. “We agree. We think he was selling them wholesale.”

I suspect Zubrod meant that Ciavarella was selling kids in a sort of bulk purchase: Ship a load, collect a large check. But it fits even if you agree that Ciavarella never took money for placing a soul in PA Child Care.

A wholesaler doesn’t sell for a specific purpose, he just sells a specific product. Ciavarella might not have taken money for sending kids to a specific place, but he took money from a place that would profit from his specific actions with those kids.

He can parse until his 89th birthday; it still comes out the same:

Heinous.

Mark Guydish can be reached at 829-7161 or by e-mail at mguydish@timesleader.com.

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