The LuLac Edition #1709, August 10th, 2011
PHOTO INDEX: FORMER JUDGE MARK CIAVARELLA AND FEDERAL JUDGE EDWIN KOSIK.
OF JUDGEMENTS AND LEGACIES
Tomorrow morning at 9AM former Luzerne County Judge Mark Ciavarella will be sentenced. Only a handful of Judges, attorney and officers of the court will have experienced every facet of the legal system. Ciavarella faces his ultimate destiny after defending and later judging others who stood before him in similar situations. Ciavarella, no matter what the sentence will always be known forever more as a convicted criminal that played fast and loose with the law, got caught and then ultimately lost everything. His fall from grace is a true American tragedy, one that was engineered by his own shortcomings. Ciavarella’s place is secure and unfortunately for him and his family will not change.
However the man who sentences him will be under a microscope too. Judge Edwin Kosik joins the ranks of Lance Ito (the O.J. trial), Joe B. Brown (the Jack Ruby trial) and Edward J. Blythin (the Sam Shepherd case) as a person who will forever be associated with the Ciavarella trial. Kosik’s entire career tomorrow morning stands at the crossroads of the way he sentences an errant judge. Will he show compassion and take into consideration the pleas from the Defense that Ciavarella for all intents and purposes is a dead man walking socially and career wise? Will he throw the book at a Judge who violated every tenant the elderly Judge upheld all of his legal career? Will Kosik walk a fine line between punishment and mercy? Throughout the Court proceedings, Kosik has been firm, candid, even handed, kind and compassionate. He rightly barred the victims in the “Cash For Kids” affair from making victim impact statements for fear of having it disintegrate into a circus. He did release the letters written to him about Mark Ciavarella. If there are issues for appeal, I don’t think any of his actions will be found wanting. What will be remembered for a very long time will be the length of the sentence he hands down as well as the way it is delivered. Sentencing guidelines will only be a footnote in this story. It is the punishment that he renders to a fellow Judge that will define the legacy of Edwin Kosik for years to come.
posted by David Yonki @ 6:16 PM
5 comments
5 Comments:
I'm listening to the radio and wondering if I am a bad person. I geuninly don't care what happens to Markie Civ... I am at the point that the only criminals I care about are the ones who could murder, rape or in any other way physically harm my family. As far as this other stuff I'm okay with long term house arrest.
very insightful article. i'm struck by the generation gap. kosik is from another era and i wonder how that will impact his decision.
This case is all about apple pie and mother's day. The media made it about cash for kids and that wasn't the crime and the Fed's did not prosecute him for cash for kids. He was found not guilty on two thirds of the charges and what he was found guilty on, he never claimed to be innocent. He admitted he took money and didn't report it to the IRS but this entire circus occurred because the media and Steve Corbett/Sue Henry made a mockery out of it. They couldn't stick to the facts because the facts just didn't make for good radio. He did agree to a 7+ year term and Kosick threw it out. Now Kosik is faced with doing the right thing as the it pertains to the law but might very well react to the media and go where he doesn't belong. At his age, he simply should not be on the bench. He did not conduct a good trial, he spent half the time acting like the prosecutor. Like it or not, Kosik did a horrible job as judge in this case. The media is making these kids out to be angels and none of them were there because they were boy or girl scouts. The media never mentioned that each of these kids went through a psychological evaluation by a PHD with special credentials and they were sent for treatment, not punishment. This whole thing is a joke and I hope that the former judge is sentenced on the IRS issue and nothing else. My opinion may not be popular but it is right on the money (no pun intended).
And the juvenile delinquents keep on robbing, harrassing and mugging---but hey, they just "kids".
Coddle em, give em a hug.
Judge,
We are sorry.
God Bless YOU!
28 big ones for mr. Mark C. Way to go Judge Kosik.
Post a Comment
<< Home