Category Archives: Criminal Defense
Trespassing And Pennsylvania’s Purple Paint Law
Of all the criminal offenses that sound like, by themselves, they cause little or no harm, trespassing ranks highly. What is so bad about walking on someone else’s property? When you were in middle school, you technically trespassed every day when you walked across your neighbor’s lawn because doing so was a shortcut between… Read More »
New Report Shows Socioeconomic Class As A Factor Determining Severity Of Sentencing
It is not hard to find examples of rich people acting like they are above the law. Eventually, the Florida Man Internet phenomenon died down because so much of the bizarre behavior documented on arrest reports in Florida was nothing less and nothing more than people acting out of desperation. That Florida Man who… Read More »
Can You Go To Jail For Contempt Of Court?
Failure to comply with the court’s orders or with the judicial process can make your legal problems worse. We have seen documentaries where antiheroes outwit the law by wiggling out of their GPS ankle monitors, and who can forget that scene in Goodfellas where Henry and Karen flush their cocaine stash down the toilet… Read More »
Contributing To The Delinquency Of Minors
When determining the consequences of illegal actions by minors, the law considers whether the negligence, or even the intentional actions, of adults may have enabled or even caused the minors to break the law. Consider that, no matter your age, duress is a valid defense if someone coerced you into an illegal activity such… Read More »
How Much Information Can The Police Require You To Give Them When They Stop You?
It is obvious to anyone who has ever seen a movie or taken a civics class that you have the right to remain silent if police arrest you. What about if, as far as you know, you are not doing anything wrong, but an officer comes up to you and asks you for your… Read More »
Extradition And Interstate Rendition
Some criminal cases that stay in the news headlines for weeks or months at a time involve extradition. A defendant might be wanted for a crime in one country but be staying in another to avoid the criminal case, and it might take a while for the two countries to reach an agreement about… Read More »
Can The Scientific Method Make Or Break Your Criminal Case?
When you are a child, science experiments seem like just another game. The experiments in elementary school where you mix substances together and observe the appearance and physical properties of the results are the most fun parts of science class, certainly more fun than the classroom activities where the only materials are pencil and… Read More »
Tampering With Consumer Products
Legal protections for consumers include laws against dangerous consumer products. When a product causes harm because of a flaw in its design or a mistake at the factory that produced it, customers have the right to seek damages through product liability lawsuits. Each year, product manufacturers issue recalls for many products when they become… Read More »
If You Go To Mental Health Court, Be Careful What You Wish For
Being found not guilty by reason of insanity has always been cold comfort, in the rare instances in which courts have issued this verdict. Undergoing inpatient treatment for mental illness is not a pleasant experience, even if the event that precipitates your admission to the psychiatric hospital is only a doctor’s appointment where your… Read More »
Nolle Prosequi And Pennsylvania Criminal Cases
You have probably heard the depressing statistic that many more criminal cases end with guilty pleas than with acquittals, but these are not the only ways that your case can go. Prosecutors have the right to cancel the criminal proceedings at any time between the arrest and the trial, for any reason they choose. … Read More »
