Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro slammed President Biden’s decision to commute the sentence of a detested ‘cash-for-kids’ judge, branding it ‘absolutely wrong.’
The Democrat slammed Biden’s commutation of former Luzerne County judge Michael Conahan’s sentence, who was convicted in 2011 over a heartless scheme where he sent children to for-profit prisons in exchange for millions in kickbacks.
‘Some children took their lives because of this. Families were torn apart,’ Shapiro said at a press conference Thursday.
‘There was all kinds of mental health issues and anguish that came as a result of these corrupt judges deciding they wanted to make a buck off a kid’s back.’
The mercy granted to Conahan was one of a staggering 1,500 cases Biden commuted on Thursday, the biggest single-day act of clemency in modern American history, along with pardons for 39 people.
The commutations notably do not rise to the level of a pardon, as it reduces a sentence that is being served but does not rescind the individual’s conviction or imply innocence.
Conahan’s commutation sparked outrage in Pennsylvania, 14 years after he pleaded guilty along with judge Mark Ciavarella of accepting $2.8 million in payments to send children to for-profit prisons.
Biden was also condemned for granting clemency for two Chinese spies and a relative of a CCP leader caught with a cache of child pornography, and a former Illinois official who embezzled $53 million from her hometown.
Former judge Michael Conahan was convicted in 2011 over a heartless scheme to send children to for-profit prisons in exchange for millions in kickbacks. His sentence was commuted by President Biden on Thursday
Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro condemned Biden’s decision as ‘absolutely wrong’
Biden’s mass commutation spree comes weeks after he also broke his word to the American people and issued a blanket pardon to his son Hunter Biden over any crimes he may have committed since 2014.
At Shapiro’s press conference on Thursday, the governor and anticipated 2028 presidential hopeful said he was left baffled by Biden’s commutation of Conahan’s sentence.
‘Governors and presidents have unique power to grant pardons and clemency and commute sentences. It is an absolute power, and it is a power that should be used incredibly carefully,’ Shapiro said.
‘I’ll offer these thoughts as an outsider, not privy to all the information he looked at, but I do feel strongly that President Biden got it absolutely wrong and created a lot of pain here in northeastern Pennsylvania.’
He said Conahan’s crimes are still a ‘black eye on the community’, and continue to affect many families ‘in really deep and profound and sad ways.’
Although Conahan had eight years left on his sentence, he was released on house arrest in 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic, which Shapiro said was another slap in the face for his victims.
‘He should have been in prison for at least the 17 years that he was sentenced to by a jury of his peers. He deserves to be behind bars, not walking as a free man,’ he said.
Sandy Fonzo, the mother of a teenager who died by suicide in 2003 after Conahan sent him to prison on his first minor drug offence, said in a statement Thursday that Biden’s decision was ‘deeply painful.’
‘This pardon feels like an injustice for all of us who still suffer,’ Fonzo said.
Footage of Fonzo confronting Conahan outside the courthouse following his conviction went viral in the wake of his commutation, as she was seen screaming at the judge and blaming him for her son Eddie Kenzakoski’s death.
‘Do you remember me?’ she shouted at the shame-faced judge. ‘You scumbag.’
The mercy granted to Conahan was one of a staggering 1,500 cases Biden commuted on Thursday, the biggest single-day act of clemency in modern American history, along with pardons for 39 people
Sandy Fonzo, the mother of a teenager who died by suicide in 2003 after Conahan sent him to prison on his first minor drug offence, was seen in 2011 footage that went viral again this week screaming at the judge and calling him a ‘scumbag’
Fonzo’s son Eddie Kenzakoski, 17, was a star wrestler who killed himself after Conahan sent him to prison in exchange for secret payments
Shapiro said he was left reeling from Biden’s huge commutation move, and implied that the thousands of cases all being decided at once may have been short-sighted.
‘I study every single case that comes across my desk where there’s a request for a pardon or clemency or a reduction of sentence, and I take it very seriously. I weigh the merits of the case,’ he said.
‘I weigh what occurred in the court proceedings. I think about public safety and victims and all of those issues factor into my decision.’
Conahan’s case was far from the only one to face scrutiny in the last days of Biden’s presidency, with pardons for two Chinese spies and the relative of a top CCP party member also sparking outrage.
Yanjun Xu and Ji Chaoqun, who were both convicted of espionage, were granted clemency last month, along with Shanlin Jin, a former doctoral student in Texas found to have more than 47,000 images of child pornography.
Three days after their sentences were commuted on November 22, three Americans serving sentences in China were released.
Biden’s recent pardons list also includes Yanjun Xu (pictured) and Ji Chaoqun, who were both convicted of espionage, and Shanlin Jin, a former doctoral student in Texas found to have over 47,000 images of child pornography
The city of Dixon, Illinois was also up in arms this week as Biden commuted the sentence of Rita Crundwell, 71, (pictured) the city’s former comptroller who was convicted of embezzling over $53 million from the town’s coffers in 2013
The city of Dixon, Illinois was also up in arms this week as Biden commuted the sentence of Rita Crundwell, 71, the city’s former comptroller who was convicted of embezzling over $53 million from the town’s coffers.
Crundwell’s case captured headlines in 2013 as her crimes marked the largest municipal theft in US history, and she served over eight years in prison before being released from federal prison in August 2021.
She had been in a halfway house and was not set to be fully released until October 2029.
Dixon City Manager Danny Langloss Jr. said the decision to commute Crundwell’s sentence was ‘a complete travesty of justice and a slap in the face for our entire community.’
Explaining his mass commutations on Thursday, Biden said: ‘As President, I have the great privilege of extending mercy to people who have demonstrated remorse and rehabilitation, restoring opportunity for Americans to participate in daily life and contribute to their communities, and taking steps to remove sentencing disparities for non-violent offenders, especially those convicted of drug offenses.’
