At Scranton event, Shapiro blasts Biden’s decision to overturn Conahan verdict – Scranton Times-Tribune

On By Littum

Gov. Josh Shapiro blasted President Joe Biden’s decision to overturn the conviction of tainted kids-for-money judge Michael Conahan at the end of a news conference Friday in Scranton.

Standing inside Tom Grudi’s Optical and the Bare Accessories on the same street that bears the president’s name, Shapiro said, “I’m going to make these thoughts as an outsider who doesn’t know all the information he was looking at, but I feel strongly that President Biden got it completely wrong and caused a lot of pain here in Northeastern Pennsylvania,” Shapiro said.

The governor was in town to promote his administration’s efforts to cut taxes for working families and highlight investments in Main Street projects.

Conahan, the former Luzerne County judge, and fellow attorney Mark A. Ciavarella Jr. gained notoriety for wrongfully imprisoning juveniles and sending defendants to two private, for-profit detention centers in exchange for $2.1 million in kickbacks.

Earlier this week, Biden commuted the sentences of nearly 1,500 people, including Conahan, in one of the most sweeping sets of commutes by any president.

Shapiro went on to explain that he takes the power to recast sentences very seriously and considers the safety of the public and the victims, all of which influence his decision, then gave his own honest perspective.

“Governors and presidents have extraordinary power to grant pardons and grant pardons and commute sentences. It’s an absolute power, and it’s a power that should be used very carefully,” Shapiro said, before sharpening his criticism of Biden and his decision .

He believed that the ordeal was too infamous to end in mercy.

“This was not only a black eye on the community, the kids-for-money scandal, but it also affected families in really deep and profound and sad ways,” Shapiro said. “Some children took their lives from this. Families were torn apart. There were all kinds of psychological problems and anxiety that came as a result of these corrupt judges deciding they wanted to make money off the back of a child.”

Conahan pleaded guilty to racketeering for his role. In 2010, he was sentenced to at least 17 years in prison. He petitioned the courts for a “compassionate release” during the COVID-19 pandemic, writing that he was “at grave risk of not only contracting the virus, but dying from the virus.” He was subsequently released to house arrest in June 2020. Ciavarella is currently serving a 28-year prison sentence at the Federal Correctional Institution-Ashland in Kentucky on honest services mail fraud charges.

Shapiro felt that Conahan was not punished severely enough.

“Honestly, I thought the sentence the judge gave was too light. And the fact that he has been allowed to come out … because of COVID, was under house arrest and has now been granted clemency, I think is completely wrong.”

Shapiro added that the former judge should have stayed in prison, completely.

“He should have been in prison for at least the 17 years that he was sentenced to by a jury of his peers,” Shapiro said. “He deserves to be behind bars and not walk a free man.”

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