Articles

We are often asked by those recently arrested whether they should even bother looking for a job in light of the arrest. Pennsylvania employers are forbidden from considering a “mere arrest” when making hiring decisions.  18 Pa.C.S.A. § 9125 permits employers to consider felony and misdemeanor convictions as they relate to the type of employment at […]

Pennsylvania has finally established a procedure to pay any Court in the state for fines, costs, and restitution online via one unified website.  As a result, someone whose license has been suspended because of violations ten years ago in four different counties now need only go to one site and resolve it all online.  In […]

Remember that Pennsylvania has a statewide prohibition against texting while driving that takes effect today. The ban prohibits sending, reading, or writing text-based communications from smartphones and other devices while driving. It does not apply to making telephone calls from a handheld cellphone, which will make enforcement difficult. To make a valid stop, a Pennsylvania officer will have to see the […]

A Pennsylvania judge has ruled that incriminating text messages between a husband and wife may be used as evidence in the woman’s child abuse trial. In Commonwealth v. Hunter, the defendant was charged with aggravated assault, endangering the welfare of a child, simple assault and criminal conspiracy to endanger the welfare of a child after […]

Would you believe that iTunes now has an app that will assist police officers in reading Miranda Rights and O’Connell warnings? For 99 cents? Amazing. Rather than carry a card, an officer can recite the warnings direct from the app, which also contains the O’Connell implied consent warnings (read to anyone requested to take a […]