Author Archives: Gary Gerson
York Mother Faces Attempted Homicide Charges For Allegedly Stabbing 5-Year-Old Daughter
For the 13th consecutive month, parents across the country are at their breaking point. The emotional and financial stress of the pandemic never seems to end, on top of the emotional and financial stress that the parents of young children were already dealing with before the first cases of COVID-19 were reported in Pennsylvania. … Read More »
Pennsylvania Supreme Court Overturns Bill Cosby’s Conviction Because Prosecution Violated His Right To Due Process
Years ago, when the accusations against Bill Cosby first began to surface, people who had grown up seeing him on television in family-friendly shows were shocked. Cosby’s public persona made him the last person that people would suspect of committing sexual assault; in all his public roles, he seemed like a moral and altruistic… Read More »
Police Seize Suitcase Full of Drugs After Transaction in Front of New Stanton Motel
A criminal charge for drug possession, also known as “simple possession,” usually means that the amount of controlled substance seized was only enough for a few doses; therefore, the prosecution assumes that the defendant intended to consume the drugs himself or herself. When the amount is more than enough for one person to consume… Read More »
New Episode of True Crime Series Features 2012 Pennsylvania Murder Case
Despite making up slightly more than half of the population, women represent only about 20 percent of defendants in criminal cases. When a woman gets accused of a crime for which a conviction carries a long prison sentence, such as drug trafficking or obtaining hundreds of thousands of dollars through fraud, a media circus… Read More »
Eric Riddick Released from Prison 29 Years After Wrongful Conviction
In November 1991, Eric Riddick stood on a balcony in Philadelphia and watched in horror as his friend William Catlett was gunned down on the street below. In the summer of 1992, a jury convicted Riddick of murder, and he was sentenced at age 22 to life in prison. For reasons that highlight failures… Read More »
Westmoreland County Couple Arrested on Allegations of Operating Meth Lab
Depending on context, almost anything can be drug paraphernalia. Is that souvenir spoon from the Liberty Bell gift shop hanging on the kitchen wall in its original decorative packaging, or is it on the kitchen counter, coated in residue that might be heroin? Are those tiny plastic baggies full of spare buttons, or are… Read More »
Crum Lynne Man Faces Human Trafficking Charges for Confining Woman to Hotel Room and Forcing Her to Engage in Sex Work
There is a growing movement to legalize sex work, as long as the parties are consenting adults. Proponents of this reform believe that a person has the right to choose whether to trade sexual acts for money. Even those who favor decriminalizing sex work believe that sexual exploitation of others should be illegal; in… Read More »
Man Faces Murder Charges After Originally Telling Police That Baby’s Fatal Injuries Were the Result of an Accidental Fall
In the 1990s, the movie Trainspotting and the book on which it is based scared countless teenagers out of trying drugs, especially heroin. By far the most disturbing part is where baby Dawn dies after all the adults around her, all of whom were under the influence of drugs, forgot to feed her. Last… Read More »
Administrator of Contraband Marketplace Website Pleads Guilty to Conspiracy to Commit Money Laundering
Laws about drugs are changing, especially at the state level. For example, Pennsylvania, like many other states, is inching closer to completely decriminalizing cannabis possession. Meanwhile, it has enacted Good Samaritan laws to protect bystanders who call for assistance for drug overdose victims from criminal prosecution, even if the bystander is under the influence… Read More »
Shippensburg Man Faces Felony Charges for Soliciting Teen on Facebook Messenger
Every tattoo has a story, but in the case of facial tattoos, the story is never short. Many tattoo artists refuse to apply ink to the faces of clients unless they already have tattoos on other parts of their body, in other words, unless they have already experienced how a person’s feelings toward a… Read More »
