President Judge election to be open to public

By Terrie Morgan-Besecker tmorgan@timesleader.comLaw & Order Reporter

WILKES-BARRE -- For the first time in the history of Luzerne County court, the election of the new president judge will be open to the public, Judge announced Thursday.

Muroski said the vote, scheduled for today at noon, must be taken by secret ballot as required by law. The results of the vote will immediately be read in open court, however. The new president judge will then be immediately sworn in.

The judges will meet in courtroom No. 4 at the Luzerne County Courthouse on North River Street, Wilkes-Barre. The meeting is open to the public.

The new president judge will replace Judge Mark Ciavarella, who was relieved of his judicial duties Wednesday by the state Supreme Court. The high court also revoked the senior judge status of Michael Conahan.

The high court’s actions were in response to federal charges that were filed on Monday against Ciavarella and Conahan that allege the judges accepted more than $2.6 million in kickbacks in exchange for judicial rulings that benefited the operators of the PA Child Care detention center facility in Pittston Township.

The judges are scheduled to appear in federal court in Scranton on Feb. 12 to enter guilty pleas to charges of tax evasion and of devising a scheme to defraud the public of their honest services.