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…
What Happens When a Judge Actually Enforces the 30-Day Pretrial Motion Deadline
Every defense lawyer in Pennsylvania knows the rule. Every defense lawyer in Pennsylvania also knows that in a lot of counties, the rule is not really the rule. Pennsylvania Rule of Criminal…
A Plea Offer on the Record Doesn't Defeat an Ineffectiveness Claim
Every criminal defense lawyer in Pennsylvania has likely lived this scenario. You're at a call of the list. The prosecutor recites the offer into the record and adds that a mandatory minimum is…
Eight Issues, Zero Wins — and a Vacated Sentence Anyway: Commonwealth v. Smith
Judge Ruggero Aldisert of the Third Circuit wrote something in 1982 that has been quoted in Pennsylvania appellate opinions ever since. Reflecting on his tenure on the federal bench, he observed that…
Five New Precedential Decisions from the Third Circuit: Guns-for-Drugs, Faretta Waivers, Tax Evasion, and Two Sentencing Holdings
The Third Circuit closed out June with a burst of precedential criminal decisions — five opinions each announcing at least one holding that will matter in federal criminal practice going forward.…
When Does a Witness's Reference to Incarceration Require a Mistrial?
A jury is supposed to decide guilt based on the evidence, not on the fact that the defendant has been sitting in jail awaiting trial. That's why defense lawyers routinely ask the court, before trial,…
A Body in a Freezer, Years of Stolen Checks — and a Statute of Limitations That Still Expired
Cynthia Black's grandmother died sometime around 2004. Black did not tell anyone. Afraid of losing the Social Security checks that arrived every month in a bank account she shared with her…
When Police Sit on Evidence, Who Pays for the Delay?
Most criminal defense lawyers have lived some version of this. You have prepared for trial. The date is set. Then, days before you pick a jury — or, here, days before a bench trial — the Commonwealth…
When a Flashlight Becomes a Search
There's a common intuition about flashlights: a flashlight doesn't search anything. It just lets you see what's already there. Point one at a dark corner and the corner was always there — you've…