Federal prosecutors yesterday tried to debunk disgraced former state Sen. Vince Fumo's argument that he should not have to forfeit $4 million to the government.

The feds' court filing said that the defense was dead-wrong in its assertion that the feds' $4 million claim for forfeiture should be dismissed or at least limited to the $2 million amount originally sought in the indictment.

Fumo was found guilty on March 16 of 137 counts of conspiracy, fraud and obstruction of justice after a five-month trial. (Prosecutors contended at trial that Fumo defrauded the state Senate and two nonprofits of more than $4 million by, among other offenses, using Senate staffers and nonprofit resources for personal or political gain.)

In Northampton County, all four judges elected in the past 10 years -- Beltrami, Edward Smith, Emil Giordano and Paula Roscioli -- have presided over at least one donor's case, court records and campaign reports show. In Lehigh County, Maria Dantos and J. Brian Johnson have as well.

The instances underscore how judicial rules basically leave it up judges to decide whether they should recuse themselves from a case. They also demonstrate how Pennsylvania's system of electing judges leaves the bench vulnerable to claims of one-sidedness or worse, even though the donations are legal.

A USA Today/Gallup poll found in February that nearly 90 percent of Americans believe the influence of campaign contributions on judges' rulings is a problem. Reform groups argue that the perception harms the court, an institution that is supposed to be an impartial arbiter.

''Think about yourself being in court and sitting and wondering whether your opponent or your opponent's attorney made a large contribution to a judge,'' said Lynn Marks, the executive director of Pennsylvanians for Modern Courts.

In 2007, Dantos was a recently appointed Lehigh County judge and hoping to be elected to her own 10-year term on the bench. As a judge, she was presiding over a medical malpractice suit against Lehigh Valley Hospital. As a candidate, she was receiving $1,500 from the hospital's top official.

Vince Fumo's lawyers are asking a federal judge to acquit the disgraced former state senator or give him a new trial.

Fumo was convicted by a federal jury on March 16 of 137 counts of conspiracy, fraud, obstruction of justice and related tax offenses.

Jurors found that Fumo had used Senate aides to do personal and political tasks for him on the taxpayers' dime. They also found that Fumo had tapped a nonprofit organization he founded, Citizens Alliance for Better Neighborhoods, for personal and political use and that he had taken free cruises on yachts owned by the Independence Seaport Museum.

But in a court filing yesterday, Fumo attorney Peter Goldberger said evidence presented during the five-month trial was "insufficient for any reasonable jury" to convict Fumo or co-defendant Ruth Arnao. (She was convicted on 45 similar counts.)

Philadelphia's Public Defender today petitioned the courts to dismiss charges or grant new trial to another 26 persons convicted on drug charges - all allegedly arrested based on false information by veteran narcotics Officer Jeffrey Cujdik and his paid confidential informant.

Together with 24 petitions filed on April 3 and three last Wednesday, today's filings will bring to 53 the number of people whose convictions could ultimately be dismissed.

As with the earlier petitions, the filings in Common Pleas Court today bring contend that the cases - most of which resulted in guilty pleas - are tainted by allegations by Cujdik's former paid informant, Ventura "Benny" Martinez. Martinez, in a Feb. 9 interview with the Daily News, said he and Cujdik often falsified information to convince judges to sign search and arrest warrants for drug suspects.

There were police officers from nearby towns and far-away cities. Combat veterans and young children. Family members and strangers, gathered in a line that seemed to grow endlessly, even as daylight slipped into darkness.

Through a chilly day and night, thousands of mourners had 20 hours to file past the bodies of three slain Pittsburgh police officers, and to try, however impossibly, to come to terms with their deaths.

"Every day when you leave for work, you lie to your family and say 'I'm going to be all right.' But you never really know," said Carmen Robinson, a former sergeant for one of the officers, Eric G. Kelly.

After almost a generation of serial snorefests, this year's Bucks County judicial election

"A backroom deal cut by the party bosses," declared First Assistant District Attorney David Zellis, a snubbed Republican candidate.

Bipartisan endorsements, though informative, are not akin to merit selection, said Shira Goodman, associate director of Pennsylvanians for Modern Courts, which advocates an appointed judiciary. "It doesn't remove problems such as having to raise money from lawyers who come before the judges," she said.

Here's hoping. This story disgusted me, and that's tough, considering I'm a jaded SOB.

A state senator on Monday advocated that juveniles be required to have a lawyer in court in the aftermath of hundreds of youth convictions being thrown out because of judicial corruption in northeastern Pennsylvania.

The proposal is one of several planned by Sen. Lisa Baker, R-Luzerne, to shore up the rights of juveniles and redress the wrongs suffered by the victims of two judges who pleaded guilty to taking millions of dollars in kickbacks from youth detention centers.

''These kids certainly did not get the kind of treatment I would want for my child, as well as everybody else's child,'' Baker said.

In a stunning turn of events late Friday, a Philadelphia Common Pleas court judge disqualified Seth Williams, the leading candidate for Philadelphia District Attorney, on the ground that he "failed to report the receipt of expenses in excess of $10,000 from his campaign," as required financial disclosure forms filed with the city. In a related ballot challenge, Common Pleas Court Judge Allan Tereshko ruled that candidate Michael Turner has sufficient valid signatures on his nominating petitions to remain on the ballot. Before the ruling, there were five Democrats and one Republican on the ballot for the May 19 primary election.

In a written statement, the Williams campaign said it would appeal Tereshko's decision.

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court said yesterday that it would give a judge the discretion to overturn the cases of as many as 1,200 juveniles sentenced by a Luzerne County judge who admitted taking payments from detention centers to which he sentenced some of them.

Calling the unanimous order a first step toward restoring public confidence in the justice system, the court said it applies to first-time offenders convicted of minor crimes who appeared without counsel before Luzerne County Juvenile Court Judge Mark A. Ciavarella Jr. between 2003 and 2008.

"Today's order is not intended to be a quick fix," Chief Justice Ronald D. Castille said in a statement. "It's going to take some time, but the Supreme Court is committed to righting whatever wrong was perpetrated on Luzerne's juveniles and their families."

In a report to the court filed March 13, Berks County Senior Judge Arthur E. Grim said his investigation uncovered "routine deprivation of children's constitutional rights to appear before an impartial tribunal and have an opportunity to be heard."

Today's charges grow out of the operation of the Beaver Initiative for Growth, a Veon-organized economic development program that was funded through state grants.

In June of last year, the Post-Gazette reported that BIG was the subject of a state investigation by the attorney general and quoted one former director as saying he left after becoming uncomfortable with how state development grant monies were handled by Mr. Veon's staff.

"Money was just sort of seen as a kind of arbitrary commodity that could be shifted and flowed wherever needed, regardless of what kind of stipulations were put on it," said John Gallo, who Mr. Veon hired to run BIG between 1999 and 2003, when Mr. Gallo resigned, sensing an impending disaster.