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…
The Collective-Knowledge Doctrine
This was a discretionary appeal to the Pa. Supreme Court. The issue at hand in this case concerns what is called the “collective-knowledge doctrine,” or what is otherwise known as the…
Comm. v. Wright, 2018 PA Super 13 (Jan. 26, 2018)
This is an appeal out of Delaware County. It involves a DUI charge from 1990 and the application of Rule 600. (Rule 600 is a Rule of Criminal Procedure that provides a remedy for a speedy-trial…