A Confession Without a Question, a Search Without a Card: Four New Superior Court Decisions
The Pennsylvania Superior Court published four criminal decisions in three days last week. Here is what is in them. A parole agent handcuffs a parolee, reads him the new allegations against him, and…
Does the Second Amendment Protect Sending Guns Out of the Country? The Third Circuit Says No
A man walks into a sporting goods store in Monroeville and buys a handgun. Perfectly legal. He comes back and buys another. Still legal. Over about ten weeks he buys nine 9mm pistols in all — and…
When Your Phone Is the Weapon: Commonwealth v. Hernandez and the Reach of the PIC Statute
A man sends a woman threatening messages, nude photographs, and videos over Facebook and Instagram. When she blocks him, he builds new accounts and starts again. He is charged with stalking. He is…
Two Filings, One Day: Commonwealth v. McAllister and the Post-Sentence Motion Trap
A defendant filed two documents on the same day. The first, in the morning, asked the trial court for permission to file late post-sentence motions. The second, in the afternoon, was a notice of…
Right Claim, Wrong Motion: Three Superior Court Decisions on Procedure
On July 31, 2026, the Pennsylvania Superior Court issued three precedential criminal decisions that have nothing to do with each other on the surface. One involves probation termination, one…
Prolonged Stops, Consent Searches, and Terry Frisks: Two New Superior Court Suppression Decisions
The Superior Court issued two precedential suppression decisions a week apart. Both affirmed the denial of a motion to suppress, and together they cover most of the ground that comes up when a…
Two Superior Court Decisions on Proving Mental State
Almost every criminal charge has two parts — an act and a mental state that has to accompany it. In a contested case, the act is often not much in dispute. The fight is over what the defendant knew,…
A Rare Sentencing Reversal in Pennsylvania — and a Third Circuit Reminder About Arrest Records
Sentencing appeals are hard to win. Appellate courts review a sentence for abuse of discretion, and they repeat, in nearly every opinion, that they will not second-guess how a trial judge weighed the…
Does Voluntary Inpatient Rehab Count as Time Served in Pennsylvania? The Superior Court Says It Can
If a client checks himself into inpatient treatment while his criminal case is pending, does that time count against his sentence? I get this question regularly — from clients, from their families,…
Standing Nearby Was Enough: Probable Cause, Accomplice Attachment, and the Limits of Flowers
Probable cause is a low bar. That is the practical lesson of Commonwealth v. Smith, 2026 PA Super 151 (filed July 15, 2026), where the Superior Court affirmed a drug-and-gun arrest built on nothing…