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Recent Blog Posts
Drug Paraphernalia Charges and Ways to Defeat Them
Jennifer decided to have some friends over to the house while her parents were out of town for the weekend. Unfortunately, her friends invited friends who tweeted other friends who messaged their Facebook friends — so several hundred people crashed what was supposed to be a quiet get-together. Not only was the house trashed, but […]
Homicide by Vehicle — Vehicular Manslaughter in Pennsylvania
The most wanted man in the Northeast last March was Julio Acevedo, infamous for a multiple-vehicular manslaughter incident in New York City. In the incident, three people died after Acevedo’s car barreled down a Brooklyn street at 60 miles per hour on an early Sunday morning and crashed into another vehicle carrying a young husband, […]
Careless Driving
In the non-stop, multitasking, ever-connected-to-the web world in which we live, it is all too easy to get into a traffic accident. At this time of year, when schools are starting and children are commuting to school, it is especially important to be careful around stopped buses, busy student pick-up and drop-off locations, school crosswalks […]
Reckless Driving
Last summer’s horrendous fatal accident caused by a Pennsylvania driver in New York made the news in multiple states. Members of one family — a grandmother, mother, two daughters and their friend — were incinerated when their SUV exploded in flames. A tractor-trailer had slammed into the back of another vehicle, causing a chain-reaction collision […]
Identity Theft
Identity theft is a popular crime in the United States, in part due to such easy access to personal information. If someone possesses or uses the identifying information of another person without that person’s consent to further an unlawful purpose, it is considered identity theft under Pennsylvania law. Although identity theft is most often a […]
A Last Chance for Justice — The Innocence Project
We like to believe that only the guilty are punished and the innocent go free. Pennsylvania’s Innocence Project, part of the nationwide Innocence Project, knows otherwise. Brian Banks, just released by the Atlanta Falcons as a free agent, had been a high school football star on his way to play for USC when he was […]
Miranda Rights — When They Apply and When They Don’t
Anyone familiar with television police shows such as Law and Order or CSI has surely seen the police officers portrayed on these shows reading Miranda rights to suspects: You have the right to remain silent Your statements may be used to incriminate you in court You have the right to an attorney Counsel can be […]
Social Media and Self-Incrimination
Derek Medina, the man dubbed The Facebook Killer for posting an alleged confession coupled with photos of his dead wife, pled not guilty to murder charges at the end of August. Medina was charged with second degree murder based in part on his Facebook postings. The use of social media has exploded in modern American […]
Stop-and-Frisk in Pennsylvania
Stop-and-frisk is a police practice of detaining people on the street and searching them. Two years after the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed suit to halt illegal stop-and-frisk practices by the Philadelphia Police Department, a follow-up study concluded that while the use of this tactic has declined, stop-and-frisk practices continue to be misused by […]
The Consequences of Leaving the Scene of an Accident
Recently, around 3:00 in the afternoon, a taxi struck a Temple University student who was crossing a Philadelphia street. The vehicle left the scene, leaving her unconscious in the road. She was rushed to the hospital with serious injuries. Surveillance cameras in the area caught the collision on film, and police are now seeking the […]
