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...
Year: 2018
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
$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...
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...