Author Archives: Jay Butchko
Westmoreland Man Gets Three-Year Prison Sentence After Pleading Guilty To Sexual Assault Of Teen
It is easy to use Google to convince yourself that your worst fears are about to come true. If you scroll far enough down the list of search results, you can become 99 percent certain that your headache is a brain tumor, your toddler’s tantrums are a personality disorder, and it is impossible to… Read More »
You Can Go To Jail For Having An Open Container Of Alcohol In Your Car In Pennsylvania
In Pennsylvania law, a summary offense is a violation of the law that is less severe than a misdemeanor. Most traffic violations are summary offenses; only the most dangerous ones, such as drunk driving, are misdemeanors or felonies. It is still a good idea to hire a criminal defense lawyer for traffic court when… Read More »
About President Biden’s Executive Order To Pardon Defendants Convicted Of Simple Possession Of Cannabis
The War on Drugs raged through the 1990s, even though it had started decades earlier. In 1994, the federal government enacted the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act. Its provisions included new restrictions on the sale of firearms, expansion of sex offender registry requirements, and funding to expand law enforcement by hiring many… Read More »
Owner Of Oddities Museum And Macabre Ecommerce Store Charged With Attempting To Buy Stolen Human Bones
Most defendants in criminal cases plead guilty, and the ones that do not usually advance one of several common defenses. For example, they might argue that the evidence the prosecution has presented is not strong enough to prove that the defendant committed the crime. They might also argue that the defendant’s actions do not… Read More »
Philadelphia Doctor Who Operated Pill Mill Sentenced To 20 Years In Prison
When kids go to the dentist, they come home with a bag of party favors, including toothpaste, toys, and stickers, as well as a balloon. Even adults sometimes come home from dentist visits with freebies, although they are usually just toothpaste and dental floss, which are not much fun to use, but getting them… Read More »
Pittsburgh Woman Arrested After Attempting To Evade Jail Sentence
The county jail is an unpleasant place, to be sure, but if there is anything to be said in its defense, it is that no one stays there for very long. Jail sentences are usually for misdemeanor convictions, and the sentence usually lasts less than two years. No one serves a life sentence in… Read More »
Pittsburgh Man Accused Of Stealing County Maintenance Truck And Crashing It
Even for those of us who do not have a larcenous bone in our bodies, certain items of public property are a source of temptation. During study hall periods in high school, even the most straitlaced kids and the teachers’ pets shoot the breeze about which street signs they would most like to steal. … Read More »
Man Faces Charges For Criminal Mischief After Trashing Mechanicsburg Hotel
Remember when Keith Moon of The Who flushed a firecracker down a hotel toilet? When Ozzy Osbourne threw a TV out of a hotel room window, he was not doing anything different from what the Rolling Stones had done years earlier. And the less said about the Led Zeppelin mud shark incident, the better. … Read More »
The Western Pennsylvania Accountant Who Served Prison Sentences For Two Embezzlement Schemes
You might think that there are two kinds of people in the world, the ones whose business operations are small enough that they can manage them with an inexpensive subscription to Intuit QuickBooks, on the one hand, and on the other, the ones who have access to enough money that they can embezzle it… Read More »
Can You Get Arrested For DUI If You Are Asleep In A Parked Car?
Everyone knows that driving drunk is dangerous and illegal, so what do you do when the bar closes and you are too drunk to drive home? Even if your grandpa swears by black coffee and your college roommates were in the habit of eating a bacon and egg sandwich between Thirsty Thursday drink specials… Read More »
