• Commonwealth v. Vurimindi

    Publication Date: 2019-01-01
    Practice Area: Criminal Appeals
    Industry:
    Court: Superior Court
    Judge: Per Curiam
    Attorneys: For plaintiff:
    for defendant:

    Case Number: 18-1588

    Appellant appealed his convictions for disorderly conduct and stalking in a one day bench trial with more than 3,000 pages of briefs and motions and a 300-page appeal brief after the trial court recommended his appeal be quashed and the court found that appellant deliberately raised issues he knew he could not raise in his appeal and his defamatory rant showed complete defiance toward the purpose of appellate review and a deliberate choice to overwhelm the court system. Appeal dismissed.

  • Commonwealth v. Tompkins

    Publication Date: 2018-12-25
    Practice Area: Criminal Appeals
    Industry:
    Court: Courts of Common Pleas, Monroe County
    Judge: Judge Patti-Worthington
    Attorneys: For plaintiff:
    for defendant:

    Case Number: 18-1462

    The commonwealth established a prima facie case of terroristic threats against defendant where the proffered evidence established that his actions and text messages could reasonably be viewed as threats with reckless disregard for the risk of causing terror to the victim. The court denied defendant's omnibus pre-trial motion.

  • Commonwealth v. Tinsley

    Publication Date: 2018-12-18
    Practice Area: Criminal Appeals
    Industry:
    Court: Superior Court
    Judge: Judge Elliott
    Attorneys: For plaintiff:
    for defendant:

    Case Number: 18-1526

    The trial court properly dismissed defendant's petition for relief under the Post Conviction Relief Act since defendant became ineligible for such relief as soon as he completed his sentence, regardless of whether he was serving his sentence when he filed the petition. The appellate court affirmed defendant's judgment of sentence.

  • Commonwealth v. Glass

    Publication Date: 2018-12-18
    Practice Area: Criminal Appeals | Evidence | Telecommunications
    Industry:
    Court: Superior Court
    Judge: Judge Musmanno
    Attorneys: For plaintiff:
    for defendant:

    Case Number: 18-1528

    Defendant's claim, that the memorandum of approval supporting wiretap surveillance of his with a confidential informant was defective, failed where law enforcement articulated reasonable grounds for the wiretap monitoring and the authorizing deputy district attorney personally reviewed the facts of the case and ascertained directly from the confidential informant the voluntariness of his consent. The appellate court affirmed defendant's judgment of sentence.

  • Commonwealth v. Jabbie

    Publication Date: 2018-12-18
    Practice Area: Criminal Appeals
    Industry:
    Court: Superior Court
    Judge: Judge Stevens
    Attorneys: For plaintiff:
    for defendant:

    Case Number: 18-1529

    The appellate court found no merit to defendant's claim that he was incapable of entering a valid plea due a lack of access to medication where he answered questions about his mental health treatment during two plea colloquies and admitted that he was still on medication and that such medication was not affecting his ability to understand the plea colloquy. The appellate court affirmed defendant's judgment of sentence.

  • Commonwealth v. Cannavo

    Publication Date: 2018-12-18
    Practice Area: Criminal Appeals | Evidence
    Industry:
    Court: Superior Court
    Judge: Judge Stevens
    Attorneys: For plaintiff:
    for defendant:

    Case Number: 18-1527

    Defendant, who shot a man who was standing outside defendant's home from inside the home and through a door, was not entitled to a castle doctrine jury instruction in the absence of evidence establishing the required elements of 18 Pa.C.S. §505(b)(2.2)(iii), including evidence that the victim was attempting to break in. The appellate court affirmed defendant's judgment of sentence.

  • Commonwealth v. Hall

    Publication Date: 2018-12-10
    Practice Area: Criminal Appeals | Evidence
    Industry:
    Court: Superior Court
    Judge: Judge McLaughlin
    Attorneys: For plaintiff:
    for defendant:

    Case Number: 18-1493

    There was enough circumstantial evidence of defendant's possession of drug-related evidence where the evidence produced at trial, when taken together, linked him to the specific areas of an apartment where illegal drugs and drug paraphernalia were found. The appellate court affirmed defendant's judgment of sentence.

  • Commonwealth v. Sarvey

    Publication Date: 2018-12-04
    Practice Area: Criminal Appeals
    Industry:
    Court: Superior Court
    Judge: Judge Shogan
    Attorneys: For plaintiff:
    for defendant:

    Case Number: 18-1432

    While the trial court properly held that defendant's crimes did not merge for sentencing purposes given disparate elements, defendant raised a meritorious claim of ineffectiveness of counsel for failing to challenge a clearly harsh sentence imposed for one criminal episode of attempting to pass a small quantity of prescription pills to another inmate. The court reversed and remanded.

  • Commonwealth v. Hart

    Publication Date: 2018-12-04
    Practice Area: Criminal Appeals | Discovery
    Industry:
    Court: Superior Court
    Judge: Judge McLaughlin
    Attorneys: For plaintiff:
    for defendant:

    Case Number: 18-1433

    Defendant was entitled to an evidentiary hearing to determine the timeliness of his second petition for post-conviction relief where there were disputed issues of fact regarding whether he satisfied his burden of proof on the discovery rule exception to the timeliness requirement. The appellate court vacated and remanded for further proceedings.

  • Commonwealth v. Ortiz

    Publication Date: 2018-12-04
    Practice Area: Criminal Appeals | Family Law
    Industry:
    Court: Supreme Court
    Judge: Justice Saylor
    Attorneys: For plaintiff:
    for defendant:

    Case Number: 18-1430

    The intermediate court did not err in overturning defendant's conviction for kidnapping of a minor under §2901(a.1)(2) of the Crimes Code since the crime of interference with custody of children committed by a biological parent cannot serve as a predicate felony to support such a conviction. The high court affirmed the appellate court's ruling.