Criminal defense work constantly presents criminal lawyers with bad facts coupled with bad law. A new case handed down by the Pennsylvania Superior Court is a prime example of this. The case is Commonwealth v. Stein, 2012 PA Super. 26 (Feb. 7, 2012). The defendant is now serving a five-year mandatory-minimum prison sentence because he […]
ACLU Sues Philadelphia Over Unlawful Stop and Frisk
The Philadelphia Inquirer reported today that the American Civil Liberties Union has sued the City of Philadelphia for illegal stop and frisk policy. Stop and frisk has been around for decades, but, in order to do it, the police need reasonable suspicion that criminal activity is afoot to stop and articulable facts to believe that […]
Inventory Search of a Lawfully-Immobilized Vehicle Holds
In a recent opinion, the Pennsylvania Superior Court held that the inventory search of an immobilized automobile, immobilized under the Live Stop program was a lawful search, even though the automobile was not yet permitted to be towed. If you enjoyed this post, check out this article about criminal defense. Were You Charged with a […]
Commonwealth v. McCoy: If a Tree Falls in the Woods…
I just read a fairly recent opinion authored by Justice Castille, wherein the Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled that 18 Pa.C.S. Sec. 2707.1 (Discharge of a firearm into an occupied structure) does not include a situation where someone discharges a firearm while inside an occupied structure. In Commonwealth v. McCoy, 962 A.2d 1160 (Pa. 2009), the […]
Stricter Gun Laws Passed
With the recent growth of violent crimes committed with handguns, Pennsylvania legislators have rushed to install tougher gun laws. The focus of the new gun bill is intended to reform two areas. The first reform will double the minimum sentence of violent firearms offenses committed against police officers. The second area of reform concerns “straw […]