• Commonwealth v. Brown

    Publication Date: 2018-05-22
    Practice Area: Criminal Law
    Industry:
    Court: Superior Court
    Judge: Judge Shogan
    Attorneys: For plaintiff:
    for defendant:

    Case Number: 18-0604

    The trial court property granted defendant's petition to sever a count alleging possession of a firearm prohibited in violation of 18 Pa.C.S. §6105(a)(1) from three other counts but erred in allowing the commonwealth to choose the order in which to proceed and present evidence of defendant's prior convictions before considering all the charges. The appellate court vacated in part.

  • Commonwealth v. Manivannan

    Publication Date: 2018-05-22
    Practice Area: Criminal Law | Evidence
    Industry:
    Court: Superior Court
    Judge: Judge Ransom
    Attorneys: For plaintiff:
    for defendant:

    Case Number: 18-0581

    Addressing an issue of first impression, the court found the evidence insufficient to sustain defendant's conviction for unlawful use of a computer because lay witnesses were not competent to draw conclusions from information in the victim's email account setting that depicted multiple instances of disparate Internet Protocol addresses accessing her account from approximate geographic locations. The appellate court reversed defendant's judgment of sentence and remanded for a new trial.

  • Commonwealth v. Bebout

    Publication Date: 2018-05-22
    Practice Area: Criminal Law
    Industry:
    Court: Superior Court
    Judge: Judge Bender
    Attorneys: For plaintiff:
    for defendant:

    Case Number: 18-0603

    Defendant failed to meet his burden of demonstrating that the trial court sentenced him to a de facto life without parole sentence for crimes committed when he was just a juvenile given the meaningful opportunity for his release from prison at age 60. The appellate court affirmed defendant's judgment of sentence.

  • Commonwealth v. Byrd

    Publication Date: 2018-05-15
    Practice Area: Criminal Law | Evidence
    Industry:
    Court: Superior Court
    Judge: Judge Ott
    Attorneys: For plaintiff:
    for defendant:

    Case Number: 18-0564

    The trial court erred in holding that the commonwealth was required to prove defendant's consent to the recording of his jailhouse conversations under the mutual consent exception to the Wiretapping and Electronic Surveillance Control Act since the exception permits interception when a defendant knew or should have known that his conversations were recorded. The appellate court reversed and remanded.

  • Commonwealth v. Robinson

    Publication Date: 2018-05-15
    Practice Area: Criminal Law
    Industry:
    Court: Superior Court
    Judge: Judge Bowes
    Attorneys: For plaintiff:
    for defendant:

    Case Number: 18-0574

    Court affirmed the PCRA court's dismissal of appellant's PCRA petition, alleging his trial counsel was ineffective due to counsel's deteriorated mental state from cocaine use. Affirmed.Court affirmed the PCRA court's dismissal of appellant's PCRA petition, alleging his trial counsel was ineffective due to counsel's deteriorated mental state from cocaine use. Affirmed.

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  • Commonwealth v. Diaz

    Publication Date: 2018-05-15
    Practice Area: Criminal Law
    Industry:
    Court: Superior Court
    Judge: Judge Nichols
    Attorneys: For plaintiff:
    for defendant:

    Case Number: 18-0565

    At a civil contempt proceeding for failure to pay court-ordered fines and costs, indigent defendants have a right to appointed counsel upon a determination of a likelihood of imprisonment and, therefore, defendant was entitled to relief on appeal from his civil contempt conviction. The appellate court vacated and remanded for further proceedings.

  • Commonwealth v. Price

    Publication Date: 2018-05-15
    Practice Area: Criminal Law
    Industry:
    Court: Superior Court
    Judge: Judge Ott
    Attorneys: For plaintiff:
    for defendant:

    Case Number: 18-0562

    The trial court erred in finding defendants, identical twins, guilty of 18 Pa.C.S. §3122.1(a)(1) for having sexual intercourse with a person whom they were four years older than since the twins were born 14 hours short of a full four years before the complainant and the rule of lenity applied given the statutes ambiguity. The appellate court vacated defendants judgments of sentence.

  • Commonwealth v. Markum

    Publication Date: 2018-05-15
    Practice Area: Criminal Law
    Industry:
    Court: Superior Court
    Judge: Judge Bowes
    Attorneys: For plaintiff:
    for defendant:

    Case Number: 18-0566

    In this case of first impression, the appellate court concluded that immunity under the Drug Overdose Response Act is not a defense and is nonwaivable and that the act served to bar this prosecution against defendant, who was found unresponsive in a hotel. The appellate court vacated defendants judgment of sentence.

  • Gregory v. Pennsylvania State Police

    Publication Date: 2018-05-15
    Practice Area: Criminal Law
    Industry:
    Court: Commonwealth Court
    Judge: Judge Wojcik
    Attorneys: For plaintiff:
    for defendant:

    Case Number: 18-0577

    Petitioner was entitled to summary relief on the count in his petition asserting that applying SORNA to him would violate the ex post facto clauses of the United States and Pennsylvanias constitutions because petitioner committed his crimes and entered his plea of nolo contendere long before SORNA went into effect and when the registration requirements for attempted rape and rape were much less onerous. Petition granted.

  • Konyk v. Pa. State Police

    Publication Date: 2018-05-08
    Practice Area: Criminal Law
    Industry:
    Court: Supreme Court
    Judge: Justice Saylor
    Attorneys: For plaintiff:
    for defendant:

    Case Number: 18-0540

    Commonwealth not contractually-bound to federal plea agreement, with respect to state sex offender registration requirements, under third-party beneficiary or implied contract theories. Order of the commonwealth court affirmed.