The PA Superior Court has held that when a female exposes her breasts to inmates at a county jail from the street below their cell windows, her public, sexually explicit misconduct violates the open-lewdness statute. Elisabell Berrios received a call from her...
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Firm News
GPS DATA IS NOT HEARSAY
The PA Supreme Court has held that GPS data, compiled from a GPS monitoring device on a parolee, is not hearsay because it does not constitute a statement made by a declarant, as outlined in Rule 801, as it is not an assertion (or the nonverbal conduct) of a person....
JUVENILE COURT LACKED JURISDICTION TO ADJUDICATE JUVENILE DELINQUENT FOR CORRUPTION OF MINORS
The Pa. Superior Court recently reversed and vacated the adjudication of the juvenile, J.C., for Corruption of Minors (COM), holding that where a crime under the law of this Commonwealth requires the perpetrator be an adult, such an offense cannot be deemed a...
COURT’S CONCLUSION THAT CITIZEN WAS AN IRRESPONSIBLE GUN OWNER WAS UNSUPPORTED BY EVIDENCE, GUN IS RETURNED
The Commonwealth Court has recently reversed a trial court’s order directing that Appellant’s firearm be sold and the proceeds given to him, rather than returning the firearm to him. Appellant, Kenneth Trainer, “was the subject of an ‘unsupported’ criminal...
“Nudity” does NOT require that the nipple make an appearance; Sideboob and Underboob will suffice.
In this Juvenile Court case, T.Q.B. was adjudicated delinquent of transmitting sexually explicit images by a minor after she “goaded” a 12-year-old “mentally challenged” female to lift up her shirt, exposing the lower portion of her breast while T.Q.B. videoed the...
NO VIDEO, NO SUSPENSION – Commonwealth Sanctioned for failing to produce MVR
In this unreported opinion, Licensee appealed a one-year suspension based on an alleged refusal to submit to chemical testing under the Implied Consent Law. Ultimately (and after exercising much patience with the PA State Police (PSP) and PennDOT), the trial court...
INMATES CHALLENGING POOR REPRESENTATION HAVE BEEN DEALT A BLOW BY THE U.S. SUPREME COURT
The U.S. Supreme Court has recently ruled (6-3) that state prisoners have no constitutional right to present new evidence in federal court to support claims they were inadequately represented at trial and on appeal in state courts. LISTENT TO NINA TOTENBERG’S...
MIKE WINTERS ELECTED TO SERVE ON THE EXECUTIVE BOARD OF THE PA ASSOCIATION OF CRIMINAL DEFENSE LAWYERS
Mike Winters was recently elected to serve as Secretary of the PA Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (PACDL). He has served on the PACDL Board of Directors since 2016 and is also the Editor at Large for the Association’s quarterly publication, For The Defense....
ADMISSION OF DEFENDANT’S PRE-ARREST SEARCH FOR CRIMINAL DEFENSE COUNSEL IS INADMISSIBLE AS AN “INFERENCE OF GUILT” AT TRIAL
The PA Superior Court has recently decided that a defendant's right to a fair trial and due process of law is violated when a prosecutor is permitted to suggest that the defendant’s pre-arrest efforts to retain an attorney are consistent with guilt. Lang was...
EVEN THOUGH THE MARIJUANA IN YOUR BLOOD STREAM IS MEDICAL MARIJUANA, YOU ARE STILL DUI
Today, the PA Superior Court held that when a driver drives with any marijuana or its metabolites in their blood, they can be charged with DUI because all marijuana, including medical marijuana, remains a Schedule I controlled substance for the purpose of DUI...