by Lea Bickerton | Jul 15, 2010 | Blog, Blog Posts
The Pittsburgh Tribune Review reports that the Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts is reviewing an incident where an Allegheny County court employee reassigned a case after a relative, who happened to be a public official at the time, requested that the case...
by Lea Bickerton | Jul 12, 2010 | Blog, Blog Posts, Evidentiary Issues, Guilty Pleas
Commonwealth v. Willard Oakley Moser 2010 PA Super 119 (7/08/2010) Topic: Evidence of Prior Trials in Current Cases Summary: Under Pa.R.E. 410(a)(2), evidence of a prior nolo contendere plea is inadmissible in any future criminal proceedings. Click to access...
by Lea Bickerton | Jun 21, 2010 | Blog, Blog Posts
The Pittsburgh Post Gazette reports that Pennsylvania State Senator Kim Ward has preposed a law that would make the failure to report a violent crime a criminal offense. The bill is named “Jennifer’s Law” in honor of “a Westmoreland County...
by Lea Bickerton | Jun 18, 2010 | Blog, Blog Posts
The Pittsburgh Post Gazette reports that Pittsburgh Mayor Luke Ravenstahl has replaced the majority of the city’s Citizen Police Review Board. The new appointments would replace five out of seven members of the board. Ravenstahl’s announcement happened...
by Lea Bickerton | Jun 17, 2010 | Blog, Blog Posts, Case Law Summaries
Commonwealth v. Christopher Doty 2010 PA Super 105 (06/09/2010) Topic: Fugitive Status – Waiver v. Forfeiture of Appellate Rights – Challenging an Illegal Sentence Summary: When a defendant becomes a fugitive from justice during the appellate period, he...
by Lea Bickerton | Jun 17, 2010 | Blog, Case Law Summaries, Ineffective Assistance of Counsel, PCRA
Commonwealth v. Joseph Abraham 2010 PA Super 104 (6/08/2010) Topic: Ineffective Assistance of Counsel – PCRA – Collateral Consequences Summary: In view of the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Padilla v. Kentucky, the fact that a consequence of a...