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  • Commonwealth v. Koehler

    Publication Date: 2020-05-11
    Practice Area: Criminal Appeals
    Industry:
    Court: Supreme Court
    Judge: Justice Wecht
    Attorneys: For plaintiff:
    for defendant:
    Case Number: 20-0477

    The court below erred in denying defendant's petition for relief under the Post Conviction Relief Act based on alleged judicial bias at the appellate court level due to lack of authority, as the PCRA court had inherent authority to grant a nunc pro tunc appeal to remedy an alleged due process violation in the prior appeal. The high court reversed and remanded.

  • Commonwealth v. Britton

    Publication Date: 2020-05-04
    Practice Area: Criminal Appeals
    Industry:
    Court: Supreme Court
    Judge: Justice Baer
    Attorneys: For plaintiff:
    for defendant:
    Case Number: 20-0450

    The lower courts correctly determined that California law enforcement officers were not acting as agents of the Pennsylvania State Police when they interviewed defendant in her California home, as Pennsylvania authorities did not exercise any control over the manner in which the California detectives conducted the interview. The high court affirmed.

  • Commonwealth v. Cox

    Publication Date: 2020-05-04
    Practice Area: Criminal Appeals
    Industry:
    Court: Superior Court
    Judge: Judge Kunselman
    Attorneys: For plaintiff:
    for defendant:
    Case Number: 20-0449

    The superior court conducted an independent review of the record to determine whether defendant's appeal from his murder convictions was wholly frivolous and agreed with the trial court that his sufficiency of evidence challenge lacked merit given the substantial evidence of defendant's guilt. The superior court affirmed defendant's judgment of sentence.

  • Commonwealth v. Blair

    Publication Date: 2020-04-20
    Practice Area: Criminal Appeals
    Industry:
    Court: Superior Court
    Judge: Judge Pellegrini
    Attorneys: For plaintiff:
    for defendant:
    Case Number: 20-0409

    While the trial court retained jurisdiction to correct an obvious error in defendant's sentence, the court erred in failing to give defendant notice of the proposed change and an opportunity to be heard in accordance with 42 Pa.C.S. §5505. The appellate court vacated defendant's judgment of sentence and remanded.

  • Commonwealth v. Brockington

    Publication Date: 2020-04-13
    Practice Area: Criminal Appeals
    Industry:
    Court: Superior Court
    Judge: Judge Colins
    Attorneys: For plaintiff:
    for defendant:
    Case Number: 20-0384

    Defendant failed to present sufficient evidence to invoke self-defense as a justification for her actions, i.e., firing a handgun into the air of her Philadelphia neighborhood, where her testimony did not establish that she knew or had reason to believe that anyone had unlawfully entered or was in the process of unlawfully entering her home. The superior court affirmed defendant's judgment of sentence.

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  • Commonwealth v. Diaz

    Publication Date: 2020-04-13
    Practice Area: Criminal Appeals
    Industry:
    Court: Supreme Court
    Judge: Justice Donohue
    Attorneys: For plaintiff:
    for defendant:
    Case Number: 20-0385

    Where the absence of a needed interpreter at a critical stage of defendant's trial obstructed his ability to communicate with counsel, the U.S. Supreme Court's holding in U.S. v. Cronic applied such that defendant did not need to prove he was prejudiced by a sixth amendment violation to secure a new trial. The high court affirmed.

  • Commonwealth v. Housman

    Publication Date: 2020-04-06
    Practice Area: Criminal Appeals
    Industry:
    Court: Supreme Court
    Judge: Justice Todd
    Attorneys: For plaintiff:
    for defendant:
    Case Number: 20-0359

    Defendant was properly granted a new trial in the penalty phase of this capital case where trial counsel's performance during the penalty phase of his trial resulted from inattention to the mitigation evidence that was readily available to him. The high court affirmed.

  • Commonwealth v. Harris

    Publication Date: 2020-03-30
    Practice Area: Criminal Appeals
    Industry:
    Court: Superior Court
    Judge: Judge Kunselman
    Attorneys: For plaintiff:
    for defendant:
    Case Number: 20-0339

    The trial court lacked jurisdiction to issue the order defendant challenged on appeal, where the appellate court had not yet returned the record with instructions for the trial court to proceed and, thus, the trial court's original jurisdiction had not yet revested. The superior court vacated the challenged order.

  • Commonwealth v. Bumbarger

    Publication Date: 2020-03-30
    Practice Area: Criminal Appeals
    Industry:
    Court: Superior Court
    Judge: Judge Shogan
    Attorneys: For plaintiff:
    for defendant:
    Case Number: 20-0340

    An arresting officer had probable cause to stop defendant's vehicle where he was notified by the National Crime Information Center that the specific vehicle plate was registered to defendant and that there was an active Colorado arrest warrant "with full extradition" for defendant. The appellate court affirmed defendant's judgment of sentence.

  • Commonwealth v. Snook

    Publication Date: 2020-03-23
    Practice Area: Criminal Appeals
    Industry:
    Court: Superior Court
    Judge: Judge King
    Attorneys: For plaintiff:
    for defendant:
    Case Number: 20-0307

    Defendant's original judgment of sentence no longer stood when he filed his current petition for relief under the Post Conviction Relief Act; therefore, his current PCRA petition was the first PCRA petition from the latest judgment of sentence which was also timely. The appellate court affirmed in part, vacated in part and remanded.