Articles

The Montgomery County Public Defender is now handling juvenile expungements for free: http://www.philly.com/philly/news/20140407_Montco_public_defenders_push_expungement_of_juvenile_records.html

In Commonwealth v. Reyes-Rodriguez the Pennsylvania Superior Court reversed the court’s denial of PCRA relief. The Superior Court found that trial counsel was ineffective for failing to request a jury instruction that character evidence in favor of Reyes-Rodriguez, in and of itself, could create reasonable doubt or establish innocence. A jury found Reyes-Rodriguez guilty of […]

On March 21, Montgomery County Court of Common Pleas President Judge William Furber, Jr. applied the Supreme Court’s opinion in Alleyne v. United States, 133 S.Ct. 2151, 2155 (2013) to Commonwealth v. Brockington, Commonwealth v. Blakeney, and Commonwealth v. Bates. The Court in Alleyne held that elements of a crime that trigger mandatory minimum sentences […]

Having recently heard oral arguments, the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania in Commonwealth v. Lyles may create a bright line rule for determining when exactly an investigative detention begins. In Lyles, the trial court granted the defendant’s motion to suppress the crack cocaine and marijuana found on his person after an allegedly unconstitutional investigative detention. Lyles and another […]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/03/23/cops-phone-tracking_n_5016862.html