Criminal Law Blog

Let’s face it…we all at one point in time speed when we are driving. What we do not think about are the consequences of speeding if we are caught. Everyone knows points will attach to your license, but how many? What happens when you reach a certain number of points? These are questions everyone should know the answer to.

If you are 6-10 miles over the speed limit, you get 2 points on your license. If you are 11-15 miles over, 3 points on your license. If you are 16-25 over, 4 points over. Finally, 26-30 over, will get you 5 points.

Suppose you are going 32 miles over the speed limit, well, you are in the danger zone. When you are clocked going 31 or more miles over the speed limit, you have to go to a departmental hearing with PennDot and will receive 5 points At the hearing, PennDot will determine whether you will have to take a special test, attend driver improvement school, or suspend your license for 15 days. If you fail to attend the hearing, then you will have your license suspended for 60 days.

Now, if you accumulate 6 points on your license, you will have to either attend the driver’s school or take the test. If you accumulate another 6 points, then you have the departmental hearing as outlined in the prior paragraph. If you keep accumulating points you will eventually lose your license.

What can you do to avoid the speed trap…..be aware of your speed. Try to do the speed limit or at the most 5 miles over. If you have cruise control, set it at the speed limit to keep your speed in check.

Finally, do not worry if you have points on your license. The points do go away in time. You will lose 2 points off your license for every year of clean driving (no speeding tickets).

If you have questions about speeding tickets, please do not hesitate to contact Prince Law Offices, P.C.

By Robert Sharpe

Prince Law Offices

A babysitter who became intoxicated at a Mother’s Day Picnic and then drove home with a child must face the serious charge of endangering the welfare of a child even though the child was strapped into a safety seat and the babysitter broke no motor vehicle laws while she was driving drunk. Among other reasons, the state Superior Court last month ruled that “common sense” required the Centre County woman to stand trial on the endangering charge, in addition to a charge of drunken driving.

The babysitter, Lili Winger, arrived home to find the child’s mother and a police officer waiting for her. The mother had called police when she arrived at the daycare provider’s home and found no one there. When Ms. Winger apologized for being late, the officer smelled alcohol on her breath. She was charged with DUI when her blood alcohol content (BAC) test showed a level of .252%, or more than three times the legal limit.

In county court, Ms. Winger’s lawyer argued that because the child was unharmed and properly restrained in a safety seat, and that no one had witnessed any erratic driving, there was no evidence of endangerment. The trial judge dismissed the charge. But the District Attorney appealed and the appeals court agreed with the prosecutor that in order to convict Ms. Winger, the prosecution did not have to show the child was actually harmed or even placed in imminent harm.

Rather, the prosecution only needed to show the babysitter knowingly endangered the child’s welfare. Driving drunk was enough to place the child in circumstances that could threaten the child’s physical welfare, the appeals court ruled.

The offense of endangering the welfare of children is a first-degree misdemeanor, just below a felony. The charge can be made against someone who supervises, cares for, educates or controls a child. When the Commonwealth can show a pattern of endangerment, the charge rises to a felony. Someone convicted of this crime is usually unable to find employment in jobs that not only involve children, but often also the care of adults. Such a conviction, for example, will by law prevent someone from working in a nursing home in Pennsylvania.

I talk to clients (and friends) all the time about the DUI sentencing provisions. I am learning that a lot of people do not know what they face for a DUI conviction. Even fewer realize the increase penalties for you if you refuse a blood test. The following articles is intended to outline the DUI penalties.

Pennsylvania has a three-tiered system for DUI sentencing. The tiers are based on blood-alcohol content (BAC) levels. Below are the tiers and sentencing penalties for each of them.

For the first-tier, a person must have a BAC of .08 to .099. The penalty for this tier is up to 6 months of probation. There is a mandatory fine of $300. This tier carries no mandatory license suspension.

For the second-tier, a person must have a BAC of .10 to .159. This tier calls for a mandatory minimum of 48 hours of prison, but the prison sentence could be up to 6 months. The mandatory fine is $500. This tier calls for a 12 month license suspension.

To fit into the final tier, a person must have a BAC of .16 or higher. This tier calls for a mandatory minimum of 72 in prison, but the prison sentence could be up to 6 months. The mandatory fine is $1000. This tier calls for a 12 month license suspension.

No matter what tier a defendant falls in, there are certain universal penalties. These are as follows: drug and alcohol evaluation (called a CRN evaluation), mandatory treatment if recommended by the CRN evaluation, and Alcohol Safe Driving School.

If you refuse to consent to a blood test, you are subject to the penalties of the highest tier. Also, you will automatically lose your license for one year no matter if you are convicted or not.

The penalties above are first-time DUI offenders. The penalties increase when you have more than one DUI. Below is the increased prison sentences for people with multiple DUIs:

First-Tier BAC: if it’s your second DUI, prison sentence increases to 5 days minimum and if it’s your third, the sentence is 10 days minimum.

Second-Tier BAC: if it’s your second DUI, prison sentence increases to 30 days, and if it’s your third, it increases to 90 days.

Third-Tier BAC: if it’s your second DUI, prison sentence increases to 90 days, and if it’s your third, it increases to one year.

Now, you may be eligible for the ARD program which is a special probation program which involves no jail time and will expunge your record at the end of the program. To be eligible, it must be your first criminal offense ever and it will be dependent on the DA to approve you for it.

The DUI sentencing laws can be complex and have harsh penalties. There are ways to lessen the penalties through special programs. You need an attorney who knows about these programs and can guide you through them. The attorneys at Prince Law Offices, P.C. are here to help!

By Robert L. Sharpe Jr. PRINCE LAW OFFICES rsharpe@princelaw.com

When a police officer asks if it’s okay to search your car, or enter your home, many people don’t realize they are allowed to say no.

Most requests from a police officer are proper and should be obeyed. But don’t confuse a request with an order. Ignoring an order from a police officer is not a good idea. Disobeying a lawful order from a police officer could be a crime, especially if your refusal threatens someone’s safety or impedes a police investigation.

One way to distinguish a request from an order is when the police ask for your permission or consent. Then it’s a request. And if the request is unreasonable, makes you uncomfortable or you think it will lead to evidence that makes you look like a criminal, then you’re within your rights to say no, you can’t search my car or walk into my home or look through my pocketbook.

If the police don’t like your refusal, then they can try to obtain a search warrant from a judge. The judge will ask why the police want to perform a search or enter your home. The judge will require some reason beyond mere curiosity on the part of police.

And sometimes the reasons police give aren’t good enough for the judge. Police officers near State College found that out when they entered a man’s apartment after the man refused them permission to enter. The police had an arrest warrant for the man. He was only wearing his shorts when police yanked him out of his apartment. The police asked if they could search his home. He said no. The police said they needed to enter his apartment to get him some clothes. The man said, no thanks, I’m all right in my underwear. The police entered anyway, and found the illegal contraband they suspected was inside. The judge threw out the evidence, saying that without the man’s consent, and without a search warrant, the police could not legally enter his home, no matter how the man was dressed.

The case is Commonwealth v. Schall, Centre County Law Journal, Series X, page 17 (March 2007).

Obviously the first step in the criminal justice process is the arrest….but what happens after that??? This is the question most people have. I saw it in my days with the District Attorney’s office when I was dealing with victims of crimes. I see it today when I meet with my clients who have been charged with a crime. Below is a brief rundown about the steps in the process.

Preliminary Arraignment: this is the first step after being arrested. It can happen prior to the Preliminary Hearing (see below) or on the same day as the Preliminary Hearing. This step occurs before the Magisterial District Judge (DJ). The DJ asks the Defendant biographical questions so he (the DJ) can set bail. The questions concern where the person lives and had lived, where the person works, ties to the community, age, and other information along those lines.

Preliminary Hearing: this is the step which decides whether the case goes on to the Court of Common Pleas (otherwise known as the trial court level). This step is also held before the DJ. The Commonwealth (ie. the DA) has the burden of proof to show two things: 1) there was a crime committed AND 2) more than likely it was the Defendant who committed the crime. This burden of proof is called a prima facie and it is less than the burden of reasonable doubt which the DA must show at trial. At this stage, a Defendant can either waive the case into the trial court level (admit that the DA can meet his/her burden at this stage) or request a hearing for the DA to show the evidence to meet the burden of proof.

Arraignment: this is the step that occurs after the case arrives in the Court of Common Pleas. The Defendant receives the Bill of Information at this stage. The Bill of Information sets out the formal charges against the Defendant and the docket number of the Defendant’s case. The Defendant will also receive his pretrial rights at this stage along with his next court date.

At this point, there are several different ways a case could go. There could be a case status where the parties show up in court and talk about the posture of the case. There could be a guilty plea and sentencing. There could be a Omnibus Pretrial Hearing which is a way to dispose of some of the evidence prior to trial. Finally, the case could go to trial and let the jury (or judge) decided the Defendant’s fate.

As you can see, there are a lot of steps to navigate. You need an attorney with knowledge of the system to guide you through it. Prince Law Offices is here to help!

By Robert L. Sharpe Jr., PRINCE LAW OFFICES P.C., rsharpe@princelaw.com

It isn’t easy sometimes to be a juror. In even the most exciting trials, the testimony at times gets tedious, boring and maybe even silly.

I’ve experienced the humbling effect of watching a juror doze off while I was delivering my best effort at a compelling, mesmerizing and dazzling closing argument. All I could do was stand closer to the sleeping woman, speak louder, and hope that some of my plea for a favorable verdict was getting through on a subliminal level. I recall another trial where, after the jury came back from lunch, more than one person in the jury box started nodding off during my questioning of an important witness.

But I shouldn’t be too ashamed. It turns out that jurors fall asleep even when judges are speaking.

At the close of a two-day trial for an accused burglar in Blair County, Pennsylvania, the judge began to “charge” the jury—that is, give jurors instructions on the law before they began to deliberate a verdict. At one point, a court employee had to awaken a juror who fell asleep while the judge recited his legal instructions (please note that when the judge speaks and a juror sleeps, the court employees will awaken the drowsy juror. I’ve never seen a court employee awaken a juror when a lowly lawyer is being similarly ignored).

When the defendant was convicted and sentenced to a minimum 15 months in state prison, his lawyer appealed and demanded a new trial. The burglar’s attorney argued that since one juror was asleep during a portion of the trial, the defendant had been deprived of his right under the Sixth Amendment of the Constitution to a trial before a jury of 12.

Pennsylvania’s Superior Court last month decided against the man’s appeal. The Court decided that the burglar’s attorney should have made an objection at the time the juror was sleeping, not after the trial ended and his client came up on the short end of the jury’s verdict. The lawyer could have asked the judge to replace the sleeping juror with one of the alternate jurors, who presumably remained awake, the appeals court said.

Maybe, but most lawyers would probably not have voiced an objection. The result would be to embarrass the juror and offend the rest of the jurors, who over two days had likely become friends with the sleeper. Lawyers have a tough enough time trying not to look and sound overbearing or pushy, and complaining to the judge about a drowsy juror would only make the lawyer seem like a bully or a whiner. Instead, a trial attorney wants to appear likeable and respectable before a jury.

Perhaps the juror who fell asleep had already made up their mind and didn’t feel the need to listen anymore.