Disgraced former Judge Mark A. Ciavarella Jr. exited the federal courthouse in Scranton as he had entered it - still swearing that he hadn't taken cash for kids.
To hear Ciavarella and his lawyers tell it, the jury's verdict Friday was almost a victory.
If so, it is a victory that Ciavarella will likely celebrate for years in a federal prison cell.
The jury found Ciavarella guilty of racketeering, conspiracy to launder money, honest-services mail fraud, and filing false tax returns.
What gave Ciavarella his reason to crow was that the panel had acquitted him of bribery and extortion charges. As he left the courtroom, Ciavarella said the verdict was something of a vindication.
He "never took a dime to send a kid anywhere," and the jury agreed, Ciavarella asserted.
Laurene Transue, whose 15-year-old daughter, Hillary, was jailed by Ciavarella in 2007 for mocking an assistant principal on her MySpace page, said she found the mixed verdict confusing.
What upset Transue more, though, was that U.S. District Judge Edwin Kosik released Ciavarella to await sentencing.
"That was very, very difficult for me," she said, "because at Hillary's trial and that of thousands of other kids, the trial lasted an average of 60 seconds, and they were handcuffed right there and taken out of the courtroom."
http://articles.philly.com/2011-02-20/news/28612934_1_ciavarella-laurene-transue-verdict
To hear Ciavarella and his lawyers tell it, the jury's verdict Friday was almost a victory.
If so, it is a victory that Ciavarella will likely celebrate for years in a federal prison cell.
The jury found Ciavarella guilty of racketeering, conspiracy to launder money, honest-services mail fraud, and filing false tax returns.
What gave Ciavarella his reason to crow was that the panel had acquitted him of bribery and extortion charges. As he left the courtroom, Ciavarella said the verdict was something of a vindication.
He "never took a dime to send a kid anywhere," and the jury agreed, Ciavarella asserted.
Laurene Transue, whose 15-year-old daughter, Hillary, was jailed by Ciavarella in 2007 for mocking an assistant principal on her MySpace page, said she found the mixed verdict confusing.
What upset Transue more, though, was that U.S. District Judge Edwin Kosik released Ciavarella to await sentencing.
"That was very, very difficult for me," she said, "because at Hillary's trial and that of thousands of other kids, the trial lasted an average of 60 seconds, and they were handcuffed right there and taken out of the courtroom."
http://articles.philly.com/2011-02-20/news/28612934_1_ciavarella-laurene-transue-verdict
