Juveniles and De Facto Life Sentences
This was an appeal out of Venango County. This appeal is one of many in a line of cases—both in federal and state courts—that have addressed sentencing of juveniles. The holding of this case was…
Comm. v. Murphy, 2018 PA Super 35 (Feb. 20, 2018)
This was an appeal out of Dauphin County. The appellant, Edgar Murphy, Jr., had filed several post-conviction-relief appeals (PCRAs), and the instant one was blatantly untimely. Murphy had also…
Comm. v. Johnson, 2018 PA Super 32 (Feb. 15, 2018)
This was an appeal out of Erie County. Johnson had previously pled guilty to two counts of robbery, and he was sentenced to an overall term of imprisonment of 8.5 to 17 years. Following a direct…
Comm. v. Olson, 2018 PA Super 31 (Feb. 14, 2018)
This was an appeal out of Somerset County. The significance of the appeal is in how the Pennsylvania Superior Court treated a recent U.S. Supreme Court case, Birchfield v. North Dakota, ___ U.S.…
Comm v. Johnson, 2018 PA Super 28 (Feb. 13, 2018)
This was an appeal out of Philadelphia County. The appeal resulted from the lower court denying a Post Conviction Relief Act (PCRA) petition. The Superior Court affirmed that decision. In his PCRA,…
Comm. v. Patterson, 2018 PA Super 24 (Feb. 8, 2018)
This was an appeal out of Westmoreland County. Patterson was convicted of third-degree murder. The underlying circumstances were Patterson was a customer of a local tattoo shop; he and the shop…
Comm. v. McCarthy, 2018 PA Super 22 (Feb. 6, 2018)
This was an appeal out of York County. McCarthy had been charged with theft-related offenses stemming from allegations that he misappropriated $90,000 from his mother suffering from dementia. He was…
Comm. v. Root, 2018 PA Super 23 (Feb. 6, 2018)
This was an appeal out of Crawford County. The appeal resulted from the lower court denying a Post Conviction Relief Act (PCRA) petition. The Superior Court reversed the lower court, finding that…
Comm. v. Presher, 2018 PA Super 19 (Feb. 2, 2018)
This was an appeal out of Greene County. The case is rather straightforward. Presher had been charged with theft and receiving stolen property by way of a criminal complaint. He was issued a…
Comm. v. Thomas, 2018 PA Super 18 (Feb. 1, 2018)
This was a Commonwealth appeal out of Philadelphia. The trial court had suppressed evidence (a gun) recovered from Thomas, which hindered the Commonwealth’s prosecution. The relevant facts were…