Gov. Josh Shapiro criticized President Joe Biden’s decision to commute the sentence of disgraced Judge Michael Conahan at the end of a news conference Friday in Scranton.

Standing at Tom Grudis Optical and the Bare Accessories on the same street that bears the president’s name, Shapiro said, “I’m going to offer these thoughts as an outsider who isn’t privy to all the information he’s looked at, but I am.” strongly believe that President Biden.” “I got it completely wrong and caused a lot of pain here in northeastern Pennsylvania,” Shapiro said.

The governor was in town to tout 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 detaining juveniles by funneling defendants into two private, for-profit detention centers in exchange for $2.1 million in bribes.

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

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

“Governors and presidents have the unique authority to grant pardons, grant clemency, and commute sentences. “It is an absolute power and it is a power that should be used very carefully,” Shapiro said, before escalating his criticism of Biden and his decision.

He considered the ordeal too infamous to end with mercy.

“The Kids for Cash scandal was not only a black eye for the community, but it also affected families in truly profound and sad ways,” Shapiro said. “Some children have committed suicide because of this. Families were torn apart. There were all sorts of mental health issues and fears that resulted from these corrupt judges deciding they wanted to make money off a child’s money.”

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

Shapiro felt Conahan wasn’t punished harshly enough.

“To be honest, I thought the judge’s sentence was too lenient. And the fact that he … was let out because of COVID, was under house arrest and now has been pardoned, I think is absolutely wrong.”

Shapiro added that the former judge should have remained in prison overall.

“He should have spent at least the 17 years in prison that a jury of his peers sentenced him to,” Shapiro said. “He deserves to sit behind bars and not walk as a free man.”

Originally published: December 13, 2024 at 3:48 pm EST