Articles

Over the summer, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court handed down a new decision that may yet revolutionize DUI plea negotiations.  In Bell v. Commonwealth, 2014 WL 3582707,  the Court held that multiple operating privilege suspensions of listed violations under 75 Pa.C.S. §§ 1532(a)(1) of the Vehicle Code are properly imposed following a conviction of each enumerated […]

In Commonwealth v. Boyles, 2014 WL 5408422, the Superior Court, using statutory interpretation, limited the jurisdictional authority of the campus police of Pennsylvania’s state-related universities to conduct traffic stops on state roads. The court considered the validity of a trial court order suppressing evidence collected from a DUI and speeding arrest near Slippery Rock University.  Officer Frank Davis, a […]

We recently told you that Pennsylvania’s legislature was on the cusp of passing an important amendment to correct commonly known problems with the Commonwealth’s DUI law.  Well, on Monday SB 1239 was signed into law by Governor Corbett as Act 1189 of 2014.  Below are three significant changes worth noting. As we described in detail in these […]

The Pennsylvania State Legislature is raising the stakes for DUI offenses. Responding to what Montgomery County State Senator Rafferty recently described as the “terrible and chilling effect on DUI convictions” stemming from the Pennsylvania Superior Court’s 2013 decision in Commonwealth v. Musau (covered in depth here), the state legislature is moving closer to passing noteworthy changes […]

On September 18th, the Pennsylvania Superior Court reaffirmed that Pennsylvania has what is essentially a zero-tolerance policy towards operating a vehicle under the influence of non-prescribed, controlled substances. In Commonwealth v. Wilson, 2014 WL 4637244, the Court held that, in drafting the DUI laws, the state legislature did not intend to require any time limitations […]