Author Archives: Jay Butchko
Financial Advisor Convicted Of Wire Fraud For Lying To Client And Mishandling His Money
The terms “fiduciary” and “fiduciary duty” appear more often in the documents of civil courts than of criminal courts. A fiduciary is someone who has a legal duty to act in the financial best interests of a client in a business relationship. For example, bank employees have a fiduciary duty toward account holders, and… Read More »
Felony Murder In Pennsylvania: How You Can Be Charged With Homicide Without Pulling The Trigger
Most people assume that a murder charge requires, at minimum, that you actually killed someone. Pennsylvania’s felony murder rule upends that assumption in ways that shock many defendants when they first hear the charge against them. Under this doctrine, you can face a first-degree or second-degree murder charge based on a death that occurred… Read More »
Three Western Pennsylvania Men Arrested For Trafficking In Cocaine And Fentanyl
As illegal drugs go, cocaine has never entirely lost its glamorous image. We still think of it as the white powder that gave us the most inspired sounds to come out of the recording studios of Los Angeles in the 1970s, from Hotel California and “Werewolves of London” to Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours. If you… Read More »
How A Pittsburgh DUI Conviction Affects Your Car Insurance Rates
Most people facing a DUI charge in Pittsburgh are focused on the immediate stakes: fines, license suspension, maybe even jail time. But have you thought about what happens to your car insurance bill months or years down the road? A DUI conviction does not just cost you in the courtroom. It can quietly reshape… Read More »
Will Your Drug Case Go Through State Or Federal Court?
Pittsburgh is not the wildest vacation destination, but some trouble can be found here if you look for it. It is no match for the year-round hedonism of Miami and New Orleans, for example. It is also not one of the destination wedding hot spots like you find farther south; Pittsburgh is not where… Read More »
What Happens At A DUI Checkpoint In Pennsylvania And What Are Your Rights?
You are driving home late on a Friday night when you spot flashing lights up ahead and a line of cars slowing to a stop. It is a DUI checkpoint. Your pulse quickens, even if you have not had a single drink. What are you actually required to do, and what rights do you… Read More »
Lower Merion Township Brothers Arrested For Operating Fake Businesses
People who are chronically online suffer constantly from the feeling that everyone and everything is fake, but we are fooling ourselves if we think that simply stepping away from cyberspace and venturing out into real life is a direct route to honesty. Even when you interact with people in person, they inflate their credentials… Read More »
How Juvenile Court Works In Allegheny County: What Parents Need To Know
When a child gets arrested, the experience is frightening for the whole family. You have questions, you have fears, and you are probably unsure what comes next. The good news is that Pennsylvania does not treat minors the same way it treats adults in the criminal justice system. The bad news is that the… Read More »
Pennsylvania’s Legal Loopholes Surrounding Nitrous Oxide
Almost everyone has a family member who has consumed so much social media content that they now believe that one or another common food ingredient is the root of all evil. Every time you sit down to eat, they will tell you that soda, high fructose corn syrup, or even something ubiquitous like sugar… Read More »
Driver Faces Criminal Charges After Fatal Golf Cart Accident
Drunk driving almost always results in criminal charges if the police catch you, but people who cause motor vehicle collisions while they are sober do not always end up in criminal court. Of course, the laws vary from one state to another. In nearby New Jersey, drunk driving is a civil infraction, much like… Read More »
