The Superior Court affirmed the aggregate sentence — 17 to 34 years of incarceration for non-violent offenses — but remanded for the trial court to impose a RRRI minimum term. The Court held that, when a defendant is being sentenced for a non-violent crime, their single prior conviction for a non-enumerated crime of violence does … Read more
The Superior Court affirmed LeClair’s murder conviction but vacated the judgment of sentence because the U.S. Coast Guard does not qualify as a “victim” for purposes of restitution under the Crime Victims Act.
The Supreme Court vacated King’s sentence, holding that he entered into one agreement with his co-conspirator to murder the victim and, because he failed in his attempt to do so, King could not be sentenced to serve separate terms for the inchoate crimes of conspiracy and attempt.
In USA v. Seighman, the 3rd Circuit distinguished subsection (g) of the federal supervised release statute — 18 U.S.C. § 3583 — from subsection (k), which the Supreme Court in USA v. Haymond found to violate the 5th and 6th Amendments. Here, the Third Circuit ruled that mandating at least one day in jail for possessing … Read more
The Third Circuit held that a conviction under 21 U.S.C. § 841(a)(1) and (b)(1)(C) is not a “covered offense” within the meaning of the First Step Act.
The Superior Court affirmed Talley’s convictions for stalking and related crimes. On appeal, Talley unsuccessfully argued that the trial court erred when: 1. it denied his 600B motion; 2. it sentenced him on two different sections of PA’s stalking statute; and 3. it admitted screenshots of text messages from the complainant’s phone.
The Supreme Court held that, where the defendant avoids a mandatory extended term sentence under N.J.S.A. 2C:35-12, the sentencing court cannot undercut the agreed-upon sentence. Here, the defendant claimed that, since the prosecutor had not filed a motion seeking an extended term sentence, Section 12 was not implicated and the trial judge could still honor … Read more
DeJesus was convicted of murder and sentenced to life without parole (“LWOP”) when he was 17 years old. In 2018, after an extensive re-sentencing hearing, the trial court sentenced him to LWOP. The Superior Court affirmed the sentence, finding the trial court “meticulously considered” the factors established by Miller v. Alabama.
Lites appealed his sentence, arguing the trial court’s mandatory minimum sentence, which the court imposed as a “second strike,” was illegal. The Superior Court compare the PA burglary statute of 1994—Lites’s alleged first strike—with the current PA burglary statute—Lites’s second strike. The Court determined that the current burglary statute includes an element the former statute … Read more
Appellant entered guilty pleas to certain charges in the Allegheny County Sex Offender Court and received a probation tail to his sentence. One condition of his probation is that he was not permitted to possess a device that was capable of accessing the internet. He was caught with cell phones with internet connections repeatedly, and … Read more