Year: 2018
4 common college student offenses
If you’ve recently sent your son or daughter off to college, it’s important to advise they use their new-found freedoms responsibly. After all, college is meant to help them become more employable — not less. Remind your child to be caution of the law by staying aware of these common...
PA’s new ‘Clean Slate’ bill makes record sealing easier
We’ve written extensively on this blog about how mistakes that lead to an arrest or conviction can haunt a person for life. It can make it harder to find an apartment, get a job or enroll in college. That is why helping people who’ve served their sentences remain productive members...
Supreme Court: Police need a warrant to track cellphone locations
Citing “the seismic shifts in digital technology” since the last time it considered the issue, the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that people have a reasonable expectation that their cellphone’s location data will be private. A reasonable expectation of privacy means that the Fourth Amendment’s prohibition against unreasonable searches and...
Running from the police just makes things worse in most cases
When a confidential police informant said that a certain State College man was selling drugs from his residence on Carnegie Drive, the police still had work to do to make their case against him. Tipsters and police informants don’t always provide accurate information and sometimes may be motivated by bias,...
Drug dealers can be charged with homicide in overdose cases
Although illicit drugs are dangerous, some college students nevertheless choose to experiment with them. Sometimes, this involves supplying friends with illegal drugs or prescription medications. Few of these young people anticipate that their friends may suffer a fatal overdose. But if this does happen, the dealer may have to cope...
Does your freedom from warrantless search extend to rental cars?
Unfortunately, far too many people in Pennsylvania and across the country are unaware of their right to deny police entry to their home or vehicle without a search warrant signed by a judge. Even if someone asks police to see a warrant, officers respond with questions like, “If you don’t...
Honesty may be nice, but exercise your right to remain silent
You were probably taught as a child that honesty is the best policy. A criminal defense attorney’s take might be that you should never lie to the police but you should always exercise your right to remain silent. Being forthcoming with officers about what laws you have broken might seem...
How do we know if breath testing machines are accurate?
When someone is arrested for DUI, one thing a defense attorney might look into is whether the breath test was accurate. These tests can be performed incorrectly, and the machines may be uncalibrated or calibrated improperly. Just as important, the machines are manufactured and marketed for profit, with source codes...
$50,000 bail in theft of $363? High cash bail keeps people in jail
Recently, a 61-year-old homeless man decided to scrounge what he could from what seems to have been a vacant, repossessed home in Mapleton. Although breaking into bank-owned properties is certainly inadvisable, it makes a certain sense in the man’s situation. After all, the bank will probably discard all the contents....
The problem with police informants
A Penn State student recently learned the hard way how police rely on informants. The student was arrested and charged with several different drug violations after allegedly selling cocaine several times to a police informant. Once police found their informant, they gave that person money, which he or she then...
Defense challenges investigatory bias in Beta Theta Pi case
A preliminary hearing was just held in the Penn State Beta Theta Pi fraternity hazing case. As you may know, a 19-year-old pledge died in 2017 after allegedly undergoing a hazing ritual in which he may have consumed as much as 18 drinks in slightly less than an hour and...
Philadelphia rapper Meek Mill ordered released on bail
In 2008, rapper Meek Mill (Robert Rihmeek Williams) was convicted of drug and weapon charges after a Philadelphia narcotics officer testified against him. Meek Mill has always denied the charges, and prosecutors now admit to serious doubts about that officer’s credibility. In fact, prosecutors recently argued before a judge that...
Prosecutors will file no charges in Prince’s fentanyl death
Just before the second anniversary of megastar Prince’s death, federal prosecutors have announced they will file no criminal charges in the case. Prince died at age 57 in April 2016, after overdosing on fentanyl-laced pain pills. He was found unresponsive at his studio compound Paisley Park in Minnesota. Authorities found...
Skip the toll on the PA Turnpike? You could face felony charges
Both ordinary and commercial drivers do it. Based on information collected last summer, more than 10,000 drivers have gotten into the habit of dodging the tolls on the Pennsylvania Turnpike. Each of those 10,000 drivers owes $500 or more in unpaid Pennsylvania Turnpike tolls and fees. The worst 100 offenders...
Medical marijuana program may expand in Pennsylvania
Patients and advocates celebrated earlier this year when Pennsylvania’s first medical marijuana dispensaries finally opened after legislation creating the program passed in 2016. The creation of the program has been a step in the right direction for people whose serious illnesses leave them dealing with unbearable pain and other side...
PSU hazing case still not over
After a judge dismissed nearly all the most serious charges last September against several members of Penn State’s Beta Theta Pi fraternity in the death of a pledge, many of those accused were likely ready to move on with their lives. The case garnered national attention and sparked more conversations...
Local cocaine distribution case pits son against mother
One of the most troubling parts of the War on Drugs is the way that it can divide families. In a recent case in Clearfield, an alleged member of a Houtzdale cocaine distribution ring received a lighter sentence because he has been cooperating in the prosecution of his mother. The...
Prison visitors, inmates charged with smuggling Suboxone
Suboxone, generically known as buprenorphine and naloxone, is commonly prescribed to treat opioid addiction. Unfortunately, prison-based opioid addiction treatment often doesn’t provide the drug or the relief it offers to suffering addicts. It seems, however, that several people at the Rockview State Correctional Institution may have tried to make it...
Man charged with felonies after finagling insurance for crash
If you’ve ever driven without proper insurance, you know there’s always a risk. If you get into an accident, you’re going to get caught breaking the law. If you were at fault, you could also get stuck with the cost of repairing your own vehicle and the other person’s vehicle...
Arrests and citations up, total crime down on State Patty’s Day
According to the chief of the State College Police, a great deal of money has been devoted to stopping State Patty’s Day, but to no avail. “This event is still a major problem and unwelcomed in our community,” he said. “The State College Borough and Penn State University will continue...
Probation-violation DUI gets State College doc in bigger trouble
No matter what the underlying reason, being charged with a new offense while on probation only adds to the trouble. A 58-year-old State College podiatrist was just deemed a danger to the public after violating her Clearfield County probation by driving drunk in Centre County. The podiatrist was on probation...
PA court: ‘Good Samaritan’ overdose law protects self-reporters
One of the ways that state authorities here in Pennsylvania have tried to make it easier to save the lives of people who are overdosing on drugs like heroin or fentanyl is through the state’s “Good Samaritan Law.” This blog has previously written about the statute, which provides immunity from...
Very drunk man allegedly kicks Penn State officer in the face
A 21 year-old New Jersey man was arrested recently on West College Avenue after he was reported staggering and stumbling while cars whizzed past, just a few feet away. When Penn State police confronted him, he reportedly told them he was “of alcohol” when he meant to say he was...
Philly man charged with possessing gun that may not have been his
Patton Township police arrested a 23-year old Philadelphia man recently after a disorderly conduct call. According to police, a man had pointed a handgun at another man and took some cash from his wallet. The police settled on the Philadelphia man as the suspect. If the Philadelphia man was involved,...
Road rage by passenger sends woman to hospital, man to jail
Often enough, criminal acts are the result of unmanaged anger. We’ve all heard of road rage, where an angry driver overreacts to a stranger’s irritating driving habits. Sometimes the events escalate to the point where the two drivers pull off the road and argue, or even fight. Afterwards, it can...
How long should a defendant be held if they can’t afford bail?
A 25-year-old State College woman is seeking a bail modification because procedures in her case have become complex and time-consuming. The woman, who was charged in connection with a drug-overdose death last year, was originally given straight bail of $150,000, which she could not afford. Now, her case may be...
Could lower drug charges reduce the racial sentencing disparity?
Across the U.S., minorities face apparently race-based disparities in every part of the criminal justice system. They tend to be contacted by police, arrested, charged, and convicted at higher rates than whites despite being no more likely to commit crimes than their white peers. They are also incarcerated more often...
PSU student charged with burglary: Is that necessary?
A recent arrest of a Penn State student should give many parents and students pause about how law enforcement can choose to throw someone’s future into doubt through their charging decisions. According to multiple news reports, a 19-year-old male PSU student was arrested recently for allegedly stealing approximately $300 from...
PA physician assistant accused of writing bogus prescriptions
A Philipsburg physician assistant has been arrested for allegedly writing prescriptions in the wrong name or for people who weren’t patients of her clinic and under other illegal circumstances. She and another person were arrested. Interestingly, the Drug Enforcement Administration investigated for a full year after receiving a complaint about...
Government report urges reducing DUI threshold to 0.05 percent
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration wanted to know what strategies for reducing drunk driving have been proven effective, so it commissioned a report from a panel of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine. That report is in. Although the panel recommended a mix of evidence-based approaches, its...
Pennsylvania governor declares opioids a public health emergency
With fatal drug overdoses continuing to mount by the thousands, Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf declared the ongoing addiction and opioids crisis a public health emergency, setting up a framework to allow the state to respond to the crisis like it would a natural disaster. The emergency declaration allows for more...
Pi Delta Psi banned from Pennsylvania after Baruch College death
In December 2013, a student pledging for Pi Delta Psi at Baruch College died after enduring violent hazing by members of the fraternity. On a cold, early morning in the Poconos, he was blindfolded, made to wear a backpack weighted with sand, and was tackled and roughed up until he...
Could Sessions’ crackdown on legal marijuana hurt Pennsylvanians?
Pennsylvania’s medical marijuana system may be in its infancy, but it relies on the good will of the Department of Justice. That’s because cannabis remains illegal under federal law. Under the Obama administration, the Justice Department took a hands-off approach toward legalized medical and recreational cannabis. In 2013, then Attorney...
Shooting prompts debate over man’s self-defense rights
Pennsylvania has a strong culture of responsible gun ownership. Throughout the state, people use their Second Amendment rights to use firearms to hunt, target shoot and protect their loved ones and property. It is that last item, however, that can court controversy. A trial unfolding in Lehigh County is a...
Man given life without parole as juvenile to be resentenced
In 1987, when Timothy H. of Philipsburg was 15, he ran away from a juvenile detention center. On Christmas Eve of that year, he allegedly shot a man to death. The following June, he was convicted and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. He could now...