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  • In re: K.O.C.

    Publication Date: 2024-10-18
    Practice Area: Family Law
    Industry: State and Local Government
    Court: Superior Court
    Judge: Judge Lazarus
    Attorneys: For plaintiff:
    for defendant:
    Case Number: 1080 EDA 2024

    Court vacated decrees involuntarily terminating parental rights where trial court wholesale adopted Office of Children, Youth and Families' proposed findings of fact and conclusions of law without any independent analysis justifying the trial court's decision. Orders of trial court remanded.

  • Commonwealth v. Williams

    Publication Date: 2024-10-04
    Practice Area: Criminal Law
    Industry:
    Court: Superior Court
    Judge: Judge Lazarus
    Attorneys: For plaintiff:
    for defendant:
    Case Number: 2320 EDA 2023

    Appellant appealed the trial court's order dismissing his petition under the Post Conviction Relief Act. The court affirmed, holding that the PCRA court erred by considering the merits of appellant's fatally untimely ineffectiveness of counsel claims. The court held further that the PCRA court properly denied appellant's claim seeking a new trial on the basis of after-acquired evidence where appellant failed to show that the evidence, consisting of unrelated disciplinary action against a testifying police officer, would likely result

  • Commonwealth v. Zieglar

    Publication Date: 2024-09-06
    Practice Area: Criminal Law
    Industry:
    Court: Superior Court
    Judge: Judge Lazarus
    Attorneys: For plaintiff:
    for defendant:
    Case Number: 515 WDA 2023

    Commonwealth appealed the trial court's order denying its request to impanel a death-qualified jury. The court reversed and remanded, holding that the trial court acted outside its legal authority in usurping Commonwealth's ability to seek the death penalty by prohibiting the parties from proffering voir dire questions necessary to death-qualify a jury, and by ruling that there would be no jury deliberations regarding sentencing in a defendant's criminal homicide trial.

  • Commonwealth v. Ortiz-Pagan

    Publication Date: 2024-09-06
    Practice Area: Criminal Law
    Industry:
    Court: Superior Court
    Judge: Judge Lazarus
    Attorneys: For plaintiff:
    for defendant:
    Case Number: 1245 MDA 2023

    Appellant appealed the trial court's order dismissing his Post Conviction Relief Act petition after a hearing. The court affirmed, holding that the PCRA court did not err in concluding that appellant could effectively communicate in English for purposes of his plea and sentencing hearing, and thus no Spanish interpreter was required for appellant to communicate with counsel and understand the trial court's proceedings.

  • Commonwealth v. Robinson

    Publication Date: 2024-08-16
    Practice Area: Criminal Law
    Industry:
    Court: Superior Court
    Judge: Judge Lazarus
    Attorneys: For plaintiff:
    for defendant:
    Case Number: 1230 MDA 2023

    Court remanded Post Conviction Relief Act case on appeal where defendant alleged that he had been abandoned by PCRA counsel, which supported allowing the PCRA court to hold a Grazier hearing to determine whether defendant wished to be represented by counsel and appoint new counsel if necessary to allow defendant to pursue ineffective assistance claims against current counsel. Case remanded for further proceedings on Grazier claims. Bradley application for remand denied.

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  • Commonwealth v. Ramirez-Contreras

    Publication Date: 2024-08-16
    Practice Area: Criminal Law
    Industry:
    Court: Superior Court
    Judge: Judge Lazarus
    Attorneys: For plaintiff:
    for defendant:
    Case Number: 720 MDA 2023

    Plea counsel was deficient where she failed to investigate defendant's immigration status and thus failed to advise him of the immigration consequences of his guilty plea, where defendant's priority was to return to work to support his family in the U.S. Order of the Post Conviction Relief Act court reversed, conviction vacated.

  • Commonwealth v. Carter

    Publication Date: 2024-08-09
    Practice Area: Criminal Law
    Industry:
    Court: Superior Court
    Judge: Judge Lazarus
    Attorneys: For plaintiff:
    for defendant:
    Case Number: 432 WDA 2023

    Commonwealth appealed the trial court's order granting defendant's motion in limine to preclude "other bad acts" evidence from being introduced in defendant's criminal homicide trial. The court affirmed in part and reversed in part, holding that the trial court did not err in excluding evidence showing that defendant shot a witness to his crime while they were both in another state, but that the trial court did err in excluding evidence that defendant fled to that state after committing his alleged Pennsylvania crime.

  • Commonwealth v. Miller

    Publication Date: 2024-07-26
    Practice Area: Criminal Law
    Industry:
    Court: Superior Court
    Judge: Judge Lazarus
    Attorneys: For plaintiff:
    for defendant:
    Case Number: 30 WDM 2024

    Court of Common Pleas did not abuse discretion in revoking bail based on information about the alleged offenses that indicated defendant's mental health status made him a threat to public safety. Order of the trial court affirmed.

  • Oceanview Prop. Mgmt. & Recovery Serv., LLC v. Baker

    Publication Date: 2024-07-05
    Practice Area: Real Estate
    Industry: Non-Profit | Real Estate
    Court: Superior Court
    Judge: Judge Lazarus
    Attorneys: For plaintiff:
    for defendant:
    Case Number: 292 WDA 2023

    Court rejected cross-petitioner's objection to appointment of conservator for abandoned/blighted property where appointed conservator had sufficient experience and a more developed plan that had the added benefit of creating affordable housing, and the trial court did not misinterpret the requirements or policy goals of the Abandoned and Blighted Property Act. Order of the trial court affirmed.

  • Commonwealth v. Fitzpatrick

    Publication Date: 2024-05-31
    Practice Area: Criminal Law
    Industry:
    Court: Superior Court
    Judge: Judge Lazarus
    Attorneys: For plaintiff:
    for defendant:
    Case Number: 554 MDA 2023

    Commonwealth appealed from the trial court's order denying its request to present certain evidence in appellee's trial on charges that he murdered his wife. The court reversed in part, holding that the trial court erred in precluding appellant's admission of probative accident reconstruction evidence and competent expert witness evidence regarding the victim's manner of death by drowning.