'I Made The Wrong Decision' - "Ciavy" Takes The Stand
Day #6 saw the courtroom overflowing with onlookers since this was the much anticipated day for former judge Mark "Ciavy" Ciavarella to take the stand in his own defense. On this day "Ciavy" was in the hot box for 6 hours where he admitted to filing false tax returns for three or four years. He admitted that he disguised the source of millions of dollars from Rob Mericle. He admitted that he lied to a state agency regarding his financial holdings. The words "false", "disguised" and "lied" are not words to describe a judge by. Those words were usually saved for the people that "Ciavy" ruled on the other side of the bench. During his testimony he also stated that he worked hard to prove that he is not the greedy tyrant that the prosecutors have portrayed him to be. I think he didn't work hard enough! He also said that the $2.1 million that he received from Mericle was a finders fee paid by a generous friend. WHAT! WHAT! I need to find a generous friend like that! That's one hell of a finder's fee! "Ciavy" also said he knew nothing about the 3 Fed Ex boxes stuffed with cash that Jill Moran delivered to Mark Conahan and most of all he never, ever coerced Robert "The Slip" Powell into paying him a dime. No, only a million or so!
This testimony sounds to me like our man "Ciavy" is trying to soften the sentence he may get by admitting to some things but not all. Make no mistake, this guy is as slippery as they come. I think he knows that the Feds put together a strong case and now he has to do damage control. His judicial warp drive is ready to blow! When asked outside the courtroom why he admitted to the crimes "Ciavy" replied, "I did it. You got to admit what you did and fight like hell for what you didn't do". My question is why didn't he admit it right from the beginning! He could have saved the taxpayers a bundle of money by taking the hit and doing the time. The Feds may have gone easy on him back then. Tomorrow is Day #7 as this script from a mafia movie winds down. On a side note, former judge Ann Lokuta was in the crowd to watch her former boss squirm on the stand. Lokuta told a reporter outside of the courthouse, "Children of our county were brutalized by the avarice of Ciavarella and Conahan". If you remember, Lokuta was forced off the bench in 2008 when the State Court of Judicial discipline ruled that she brought the judiciary into disrepute. "Raggedy Ann" was portrayed by workers in her office as a "bully on the bench". If this happened now she may have been hung in the courthouse rotunda since bullying is the big No, No now. I am not a big fan of bullying, however this is another topic for a future Gripe.
Day #7 Recap Tomorrow - Closing Arguments and Jury deliberations.
I. Love. You.
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