Category: Pennsylvania Supreme Court

Commonwealth v. Cobbs

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court dealt with a scenario practitioners are unlikely to face in the future. In 1970, the defendant was convicted of murder. The defendant was a juvenile and

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Commonwealth v. Rawls

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court held that law enforcement agents do not violate the Sixth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution when they fail to specifically apprise a defendant that criminal charges

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Commonwealth v. Jordan

A criminal defense attorney’s worst nightmare occurred, and the Pennsylvania Supreme Court affirmed. The defendant was charged with a gunpoint robbery. He proceeded to a jury trial. But as is

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In re S.K.L.R.

As with all cases where the courts must decide whether to terminate a parent’s rights involuntarily, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court confronted a tragic case. Mother and Father had two children

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Commonwealth v. Edwards

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court considered whether recklessly endangering another person (REAP) merges with aggravated assault under the merger statute. The defendant drove erratically, striking a car occupied by three people,

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Donovan v. State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co.

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court answered three related questions regarding underinsured motorist (UIM) coverage. The plaintiff was injured in a car crash. He recouped $25,000 from the striking motorists’ insurance company.

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Commonwealth v. Dixon

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court issued a relatively short (14 pgs.) but dense opinion analyzing the propriety of a jury instruction for intimidation of a witness. At the defendant’s trial, the

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Commonwealth v. Fitzpatrick

The “state of mind” exception to the hearsay rule took center stage when detectives investigating a homicide found a note the decedent wrote stating, “If something happens to me—JOE.” The

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Commonwealth v. Satterfield

Satterfield entered an open guilty plea to various offenses, including three counts of leaving the scene of an accident involving death or personal injury, 75 Pa.C.S. § 3742. Reasoning that

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