The Superior Court of Pennsylvania held in a recent opinion that in a pre-arrest situation, a defendant is not in official custody for purposes of the Escape statute where the police officer merely orders the defendant to “stop and get on the ground” during pursuit. The police officer in Commonwealth v. Woody, 2007 Pa. Super. […]
CIA Violates Order Regarding Interrogation Videos
The American Civil Liberties Union had sued the U.S. Department of Defense under the Freedom of Information Act, and pursuant to a court order issued in 2004, the CIA was supposed to preserve videotapes depicting interrogation of supposed al-Queda detainees. However, notwithstanding the court order, the tapes were destroyed in 2005. The judge in the […]
Phil. Adult Probation & Parole Deploys New Field Cars
The Philadelphia Courts recently announced the deployment of six marked vehicles for the Adult Probation and Parole Department, which will be used by the Gun Court Unit. The Gun Court Unit supervises offenders who have a gun offense as their most serious crime. Update: The Philadelphia justice system continues to innovate over time. Learn more […]
Officer Background Not Enough to Establish Probable Cause
“Police training and experience, without more, is not a fact to be added to the [amount] of evidence to determine if probable cause exists…” The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has finally put it’s foot down on police officers’ end-run around having probable cause in making arrests for single narcotics transactions in Commonwealth v. Dunlap, 2007 Pa. […]
Bravo, New Jersey. Bravo.
Its not often that I get to say, “Bravo, New Jersey”, but it certainly appropriate now that New Jersey has abolished the death penalty. The draconian death penalty has reared its ugly head for thousands of years, in many jurisdictions, in many forms, and has never been proven to serve as a deterrent to murder. […]
