Invocation of Miranda-based Right to Counsel Must Occur in Close Temporal...
An arrestee’s anticipatory invocation of his Fifth Amendment right to counsel did not require suppression of statements he made during a subsequent uncounseled interrogation, the Pennsylvania Supreme...
View ArticleParole Board Retained Jurisdiction to Recommit Delinquent Parolee after his...
The Pennsylvania Board of Probation and Parole was not divested of jurisdiction to recommit a convicted parole violator when it failed to declare the parolee delinquent before the expiration of his...
View ArticleCourt Upholds Suppression of Incriminating Video Files Discovered on Computer...
Applying a property-based Fourth Amendment analysis, the Superior Court recently held that incriminating video files discovered on a computer by a technician performing repairs could not be offered...
View ArticleMandatory Minimum Sentences for School Zone Drug Sales Ruled Unconstitutional
A Crimes Code provision mandating a minimum prison sentence of two years upon a conviction for selling drugs in a “drug-free school zone” is unconstitutional, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court held in...
View ArticleParolee Subject to Custodial Interrogation on New Crimes Entitled to Miranda...
Parole agents violated a parolee’s Fifth Amendment rights by interrogating him about new crimes while he was in custody, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court held in Com. v. Cooley, III. The post Parolee...
View ArticleBare Assertion of Innocence Insufficient to Withdraw Guilty Plea Prior to...
A defendant’s claim of innocence must be plausible in order to constitute a fair and just reason for a presentence withdrawal of a guilty plea, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court held in Com. v....
View ArticleSender of Incriminating Text Messages to Informant’s Tablet Computer Lacked...
A defendant lacked a reasonable expectation of privacy in the contents of a text message conversation he had with a police informant, the Pennsylvania Superior Court held in Com. v. Diego. The post...
View ArticleCommon Law Infancy Defense Remains Viable in Criminal Prosecutions for...
The common law defense of infancy remains applicable in criminal proceedings where the defendant is being prosecuted for conduct committed before the age of 14, the Pennsylvania Superior Court ruled in...
View ArticleSupreme Court Approves New Rules on Use of Electronic Devices by Jurors
On July 7, 2015, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court adopted new Rules of Criminal Procedure, and revised and renumbered other Rules, to provide for instructions to prospective and selected jurors...
View ArticleState Police Ordered to Release Video Recording of Traffic Stop to Driver
A video recording of a traffic stop was not exempt from disclosure as a criminal investigative record under the Right-to-Know Law (RTKL) or the Criminal History Record Information Act (CHRIA), the...
View ArticleSuperior Court Upholds Mandatory Minimum Sentence for Violation of Sex...
A mandatory minimum sentence imposed upon a convicted sex offender for failing to comply with a statutory registration requirement is constitutional, the Pennsylvania Superior Court held in Com. v....
View ArticleMarital Privilege not Subject to Crime Fraud Exception in Criminal Cases
The Commonwealth could not elicit testimony about private incriminating conversations between a criminal defendant and his wife, an en banc Pennsylvania Superior Court panel held in Com. v. Davis The...
View ArticleCommonwealth not Required to Provide Written Transcripts of Crime Victims’...
The Commonwealth is under no obligation to prepare written transcripts of videotaped victim interviews for a criminal defendant, the Pennsylvania Superior Court held in Com. v. Robinson The post...
View ArticleSharply Divided Supreme Court Holds that Officer Detained Motorist by...
A state trooper’s interaction with a motorist, which included activating his vehicle’s overhead lights as he approached her parked vehicle, constituted an investigative detention, the Pennsylvania...
View ArticleCriminal Rule Amended to Include Requirements for Petition to Resume Use of...
By order dated September 8, 2015, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court amended Rule of Criminal Procedure 556 (Indicting Grand Jury) to specify the form and contents of a petition by a court of common pleas...
View ArticleSuperior Court Relaxes Level of Diligence Required of Late Pro Se PCRA...
The presumption of access to information available in the public domain does not apply to an untimely pro se petitioner under the Post Conviction Relief Act (PCRA), an en banc panel of the Pennsylvania...
View ArticleDistrict Attorney’s Office not Disqualified by Public Defender-Turned ADA’s...
An assistant district attorney’s prior representation of a criminal defendant did not warrant disqualification of the entire district attorney’s office, the Pennsylvania Superior Court ruled in Com. v....
View ArticleParole Agents Authorized to Frisk Non-Parolees for Weapons
A parole agent may perform a protective frisk of a person present during a routine check of a parolee’s approved residence if the agent reasonably suspects that person is armed and dangerous, the...
View ArticleMurder of Unborn Child is not “Murder” for Purposes of Third-Degree Murder...
A statute mandating a life sentence for a defendant previously convicted of “murder” is not triggered by the defendant’s murder of an unborn child, the Pennsylvania Superior Court held in Com. v....
View ArticleSuperior Court Strikes Philadelphia Local Rule on Deadline for Appealing...
A Philadelphia local rule imposing a 15-day deadline to appeal a municipal court’s suppression ruling is void and unenforceable, the Pennsylvania Superior Court decided in Com. v. Williams. The post...
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