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Archive for August, 2009
Friday, August 21st, 2009
I have spoken to many people who are confused about why they are charged with a misdemeanor when their only offense is disorderly conduct. The simple answer is the gradation of the offense depends on how disorderly you were. A person is generally guilty of disorderly conduct if “with intent to cause public inconvenience, annoyance or alarm, or recklessly creating a risk thereof, he: (1) engages in fighting or threatening, or in violent or tumultuous behavior; (2) makes unreasonable noise; (3) uses obscene language, or makes an obscene gesture; or (4)creates a hazardous or physically offensive condition by any act which serves no legitimate purpose of the actor.”
The gradation for the above described activity is as follows “An offense under this section is a misdemeanor of the third degree if the intent of the actor is to cause substaintial harm or serious inconvenience, or if he persists in disorderly conduct after reasonble warning or request to desist. Otherwise disorderly conduct is a summary offense.“
In my experience people are almost always charged with disorderly conduct as a summary. The times where I see the commonwealth pursue the misdemeanor is when the defendant’s behavior is extraordinary or where it is done in a highly populated public area. It is difficult to cause substantial harm or serious inconvenience when you are by yourself or with only a small group of people. I hope this helps clear up some of the confusion.
Tags: disorderly conduct, summary, summary offense
Posted in summary offenses | 4 Comments »
Wednesday, August 19th, 2009
If you get ARD (Accelerated Rehabilitative Disposition), you successfully complete ARD, and you get a certificate of completion for ARD, you can have your the record of your arrest expunged unless your case is of a sexual nature.
If you had ARD and did not successfully complete the program, you may still be eligible for an expungement. Often the only reason a person’s ARD looks incomplete is that there is an outstanding fine or cost that the person did not know even existed. in that instance, you can still have an expungement.
When ARD is the final disposition of the case, we can almost always figure out a way to get the matter expunged. Always remember that arrests alone still come up in NCIC which is the data base used by the FBI. Therefore, any employer that uses a database for record checks based on the NCIC, will see your arrest even if you had ARD and were never convicted.
Tags: accelerated rehabilitative disposition, ard, expungement
Posted in ard, expungement | 2 Comments »
Wednesday, August 19th, 2009
At the local prisons in Philadelphia county, defendants want money on their books. By local I mean the CFCF, DC, HOC, PICC, Riverside, ASU, or the Cannery. The term “money on the books” is used because prisoners are not allowed to have actual cash on their person, so each inmate has an inmate account. In fact, cash is considered contraband and not allowed by the prison.
There are three ways that you can put money on the books:
1. Go to the prison with cash and have the cash put on the books of the inmates. You must have the defendat’s Police Photo Number (PP#).
2. Go to the prison with a money order from the United States Post Office. Again you must have the defendant’s PP#.
3. You can mail a money order from the Post Office, but it must contain the name and PP# of the defendant.
In addition to the above, sometimes we have clients that have money to pay their bail or to put on their books, but the bank account is only in the defendant’s name. There is a procedure for getting a power of attorney so that someone else can go to the bank and withdraw the funds to either pay bail or put money on the books. While the procedure can be somewhat complicated, we have done it successfully for several
Tags: Bail, money on books, power of attorney
Posted in Bail, money on books | No Comments »
Monday, August 17th, 2009
In Pennsylvania, if you are convicted of Possession with the Intent to Deliver (PWID) Marijuana, you could frace a mandatory minimum. The mandatories are as follows:
2 lbs. to < 10 lbs. or 10 to < 21 live plants: 1st conviction 1 year, subsequent – 2 years
10 lbs. to < 50 lbs. or 21 to 51 live plants: 1st conviction 3 years, subsequent – 4 years
50 lbs. or more or 51 live plants or more: 1st conviction 5 years subsequent – 5 years
The key to the sentencing issue above is that the defendant must be convicted of PWID. If you are not convcted of PWID, the mandatories do not apply and you are sentenced based on the sentencing guidelines. There are four basic ways to be convicted of PWID for any drug. First, selling the drugs. Second, conspiring with other to sell drugs. Third, possessing a quantity too great to reasonably be able to use the drugs just for yourself. Fourth, sharing the drugs in a social setting.
Also, there are exceptions to the mandatory rules where you can file a motion and argue that even though you possessed some of the drugs for delivery, you possessed some for personal use and therefore the mandatory should not apply.
Tags: marijuana, posession with the intent to deliver, PWID
Posted in Drug Possession Delivery and Distribution, marijuana | No Comments »
Monday, August 17th, 2009
If you are on probation and you are picked up by the police on a new case, or you are picked up by the police or the probation department for a technical violation of your probation you are entitled to a certain amount of due process from that detention.
Within a short period of time after the detention, you are entitled to a hearing to determine whether you should be held in custody while awaiting to see the judge or waiting to have a full hearing with the judge. If the trial commissioner or the judge, think that you should not wait in custody for your full hearing, the trial commissioner or the judge can release you. This is proceeding is called a Gagnon I hearing. In Philadelphia county, the defendant is not present at the Gagnon I hearing.If the commissioner or judge rule that you must stay in custody until the Gagnon II hearing, this is called a detainer.
After the Gagnon I hearing is complete, a final hearing, the Gagnon II hearing, must be scheduled within 30 days of the initial hearing. This final hearing is where the defendant goes before the judge and the judge decides whether to violation the defendant, and if so, gives the defendant a new sentence.
The judge can violate the defendant for either a technical or direct violation. An example of a technical violation is not reporting to the probation officer, dirty urine, or not complying with any term or condition of the probation. An example of a direct violation is a new conviction in a new case. Usually the new sentences for direct violations are greater then new sentences for technical, but the judge can always give a big sentence for a technical violation.
Tags: detainer, gagnon I, gagnon II, probation
Posted in detainer, gagnon I, gagnon II, probation | 4 Comments »
Monday, August 17th, 2009
RRRI stands for Recidivism Risk Reduction Incentive. This is a program that allow an inmate in state custody to get paroled before their minimum. At sentencing, the county judge must make the defendant RRRI eligible. If the defendant is not made RRRI eligible by the county judge, there is no way for the defendant to get into the program.
If a defendant is RRRI eligible, the judge must make them RRRI and has no discretion regarding this eligibility. If the defendant has not prior crimes of violence and no prior gun possession cases, most likely the defendant is eligible.
Once the defendant is in the program, the defendant must complete the program successfully in order to achieve the ultimate goal of getting paroled before their minimum.
Tags: rrri, sentencing
Posted in rrri, setencing | No Comments »
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