Conahan Enters Formal Plea of Guilty; Ciavarella Forges Ahead in His Own Defense

On July 23, 2010, former Luzerne County judge Michael T. Conahan entered a formal plea of guilty and, when asked point blank by Federal Middle District Judge Edwin Kosik, admitted on the record that certain charges being brought against him were "substantially correct."

Conahan is facing up to 20 years in prison, fines, and restitution orders. Judge Kosik gave no indication as to what the sentence would be an referred the matter to a pre-sentencing investigation in that regard.

So far, there has been no confirmation as to whether Conahan will be testifying against former judge Mark Ciavarella in the other related criminal case.

To review the various articles by Terrie Morgan-Besecker, Jerry Lynott, and Jennifer Learn-Andes on this topic from the July 24, 2010 Times Leader newspaper, which are the sources for this post, click on these links:

http://www.timesleader.com/news/Conahan_pleads_guilty_to_plot_07-23-2010.html

http://www.timesleader.com/news/Ciavarella_not_swayed_by_Conahan_07-23-2010.html

http://www.timesleader.com/news/Mericle_rsquo_s_role_in_scandal_begins_to_loom_larger_07-23-2010.html