Villanova University, the once small regional private Roman Catholic college on Pennsylvania’s Main Line that has grown to a national academic and athletic powerhouse, once again made headlines recently for the wrong reasons.
Pennsylvania and New Jersey, and Florida where the Judkins incident allegedly occurred maintains a strict procedure which allows a police officer to arrest a person if the officer believes that a defendant has violated the Pennsylvania or New Jersey crimes code with regards to a crime of violence. This type of evidence can include a victim’s statement, other witnesses’ statements and observation of injuries to the alleged victim.
The Ferguson and Shifflet decisions are very different. The Commonwealth v. Shifflett case focused in on Due Process and the Ferguson v. Penndot case focused on the administrative police powers of an agency within the Commonwealth-PennDOT.
Recently, in Commonwealth v. Sumpter, the Pennsylvania Superior Court ruled that at least one of Pennsylvania’s gun laws, Section 6108, a violation under Pennsylvania Uniform Firearms Act (VUFA) – Carrying of firearms in Philadelphia Without a License, is unconstitutional.
If you’re stopped for suspicion of a DUI/DWI in Pennsylvania or New Jersey, a police officer or state trooper will likely ask for you to submit to a field sobriety test.
This case presents a good opportunity to compare the bail systems in California with Pennsylvania and New Jersey. In California, like Pennsylvania and New Jersey, a bail hearing is a legal proceeding where a criminal court judge decides whether to release a defendant from custody while awaiting trial.
The Superior Court had previously affirmed a trial court decision which found that the prosecution only had to establish non ownership to satisfy the issue that the defendant had no reasonable expectation of privacy (REOP) and therefore no standing to assert the constitutional right against illegal search and seizure.
While this criminal prosecution did not occur in the United States, the case made headlines here. One of the players charged is Philadelphia Flyer’s Goalie, Carter Hart.
Pennsylvania and New Jersey both maintain very strict laws with regards to these fatal and non-fatal incidents. Here are the most common crimes associated with these incidents in New Jersey & Pennsylvania and the possible criminal penalties associated with them
Prior to this expansion it was impossible to mitigate a criminal record following a conviction in Pennsylvania, unlike New Jersey. Through the Clean Slate Program, Pennsylvania expanded its law regarding criminal records last year, but many people still do not understand it!
