When a person is pulled over under the suspicion of driving under the influence of alcohol (DUI) in Pennsylvania, there is a series of field sobriety tests conducted by a police officer to establish probable cause to issue a valid arrest. Generally, there is no requirement in Pennsylvania that requires the police to perform field […]
A few weeks ago the National Transportation Safety Board (or “NTSB”) unanimously voted to recommend to the fifty states that they lower the blood alcohol level sufficient to convict for DUI or DWI to .05%. Most states, including Pennsylvania, now have .08% as the threshold level when a person is considered officially “impaired” for the purposes […]
Ambien is a drug used for sleep initiation for people with insomnia. It works by making one feel woozy in a relatively short period of time after dosing with the hopes of doing its job quickly and knocking the user out so he or she can get a good night sleep. At this time Ambien is […]
There is no questions that the use of cell phones in automobiles while driving is not an ideal combination. Dialing while driving, and especially texting while driving, often makes for a distracted driver and thus a greater chance that an accident may occur because of the lack of attentiveness to the road. Even mere “bad driving” […]
PennDot allows for first time DUI offenders who have been suspended for a year to receive a probationary driver’s license that allows them to drive for purposes of getting to work, going to school, and for seeking medical treatment. A PA drivers license lawyer can obtain one for his client in relatively short order if […]
If you have a DUI case pending that involves evidence of breath taken from a breathalyzer machine then this post could be or you. On New Years Eve 2012, A Dauphin County Court handed down a ruling in Commonwealth v. Schildt that held that results from the breathalyzer machine could not be used in evidence when […]
Can you get a waiver of preliminary hearing for ARD? The first time a defendant gets to test the evidence that the Commonwealth has against them in a criminal case in Pennsylvania is at what is called a “preliminary hearing”. At this hearing, the Commonwealth must prove that the chances are more “probable that not” […]
…….and the answer is: Almost always “yes”. Whether you have to or not has nothing to do with what crime you have been accused of, whether you have a criminal record, or whether you have a lawyer (a good one or not). The requirement that a defendant waive his right to a preliminary […]
As we all know, if someone is caught committing a crime in the state of Pennsylvania, or any other state, they get arrested. Part of the process of getting arrested is having the police take your picture and and take an impression of your fingerprints. It is done for every crime that is graded as […]
As a Pennsylvania suspended license lawyer, I have the opportunity to review hundreds of driving records a year. In my experience, there are basically four reasons why licenses are suspended.