'Original victims' cheated in Luzerne scandal?

HARRISBURG - The state's victim advocate yesterday urged a special panel not to forget the thousands of "original victims" allegedly harmed by juveniles whose cases were heard by judges at the center of the Luzerne County criminal-justice scandal.

Carol L. Lavery, who heads Pennsylvania's Office of the Victim Advocate, says she has received letters from numerous victims - and parents of victims - of juvenile offenders whose cases were vacated as a result of the "cash for kids" corruption investigation.

Former Luzerne County Court Judges Mark A. Ciavarella Jr. and Michael T. Conahan are accused of collecting $2.6 million in kickbacks for sending thousands of children to detention at private facilities.

The two pleaded guilty last year to fraud charges, but a federal judge threw out their plea agreements, saying the men had not accepted responsibility. They are awaiting trial.

The state Supreme Court last fall vacated the convictions of juvenile defendants who appeared in court before Ciavarella between 2003 and 2008, and barred retrials in all but a small portion of about 6,500 cases.

At yesterday's hearing, Lavery read excerpts of letters she has received from victims - some from those who lost family heirlooms to burglars, others from parents of children who were sexually assaulted. Many are left without a record of taking their case to court, let alone restitution. When the scandal came to light and verdicts were vacated, defendants' records were expunged.

"What about the victims?" said Lavery, testifying before the Interbranch Commission on Juvenile Justice, formed to investigate the failures in the juvenile-justice system that led to the scandal. "There is a loss of faith in the system."

Lavery said a restitution program must be created to calculate and pay for the financial losses suffered by crime victims and their families who have seen their cases washed aside.

The 11-member panel, meeting for the eighth time since its formation in August, also heard from state and national experts on an issue the scandal highlighted: the role of public defenders in juvenile cases.

Barbara Lee Krier, a York County public defender and a founder of the Juvenile Defenders Association of Pennsylvania, urged the commission to find a way to address inequities in the way indigent defendants are represented across the commonwealth.

Krier and Mary Ann Scali, deputy director of the nonprofit National Juvenile Defense Center in Washington, said a system of "justice by geography" has led to the quality of such defense's varying widely from county to county.

They said one reason is uneven funding. Pennsylvania, they said, is the only state that allots no dollars to indigents' defense. All such funding is at the county level.

In Luzerne County, Krier said, the lone public defender may be responsible for handling as many as 800 to 1,000 cases when no more than 250 cases is appropriate.

"That's outrageous," she said when asked about those numbers. "I don't know how that person can know anything about a majority of the cases."

Krier said her group advocates mandatory training, more uniform funding, and independent oversight of public defenders and judges who handle juvenile cases to help ensure the ethical lapses are not repeated.

George Kuhlman, ethics counsel for the American Bar Association, told the panel the state's judicial code of conduct lacked specificity and could use stronger teeth.

He said ethics rules should be more strongly worded and provisions for accepting gifts more detailed. "There seems to lack a provision of disclosure about what is accepted," Kuhlman said.

Today, the commission is expected to hear testimony from the Pennsylvania Bar Association, the group Pennsylvanians for Modern Courts, and the state Judicial Conduct Board.

At a final hearing on Feb. 25 in Wilkes-Barre, the commission is to hear from some of the juvenile defendants sentenced in the scandal.

The panel has been directed to prepare a final report and present its recommendations to Gov. Rendell, the legislature, and the Supreme Court by May 31.

Lavery, whose office was created by state law in 1995 "to represent the rights and interests of crime victims," said the scandal highlights the need for an additional post - specifically to safeguard victims' rights in juvenile cases.

"It's important that we maintain our sense of justice," said Lavery, adding that parent after parent had told her, "It's as if the system is protecting the criminal instead of the victims."