A Pittsburgh woman recently found out the hard way what the consequences are for bringing a small amount of marijuana and drug paraphernalia onto state prison grounds. The 20 year old college student was apparently attempting to visit someone at the new SCI Benner...
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Marijuana Cultivation Charges Lodged Against Real Life Nancy Botwin
A suburban mom from Scarsdale, NY, one of America's wealthiest communities, faces federal charges for running a multi-million dollar marijuana grow operation out of a warehouse in Queens. The fact that Andrea Sanderlin lived a double-life as a marijuana "queenpin" and...
Colorado’s New Marijuana Regulations are Overly Burdensome
When Colorado voters approved a state constitutional amendment repealing Marijuana Prohibition last November, the next step was to draft laws regulating cannabis in a manner similar to alcohol. For practical reasons, Governor John Hickenlooper signed the new marijuana...
Blair County Death Row Inmate Assaults his Attorney
Last week, I posted a blog about status-based aggravated assaults, and this week's news provides a brazen example of this offense. Andre Staton was convicted by a Blair County jury in 2005, for the murder of his girlfriend, and then sentenced to death. Tim Burns was...
State College Woman Skips DUI Sentencing, Gets Second DUI Same Day
Not all DUIs are created equally. A 35 year old State College woman's recent misfortune provides a tutorial on just about every conceivable aggravating factor, which can be associated with a DUI, short of homicide while DUI or aggravated assault while DUI. The...
Will Marijuana Legalization Squeeze Out the Little Guy?
Marijuana legalization, or more correctly stated, re-legalization, appears to be inevitable, due to simple demographic math. Each year, more supporters of legal marijuana reach voting age, while more aging prohibitionists die off. A 2013 Pew Research Center Poll...
Juniata County Man Tried to Avoid DUI by Swimming Away
The Pennsylvania State Police allege that a Mifflintown was involved in an April 26, 2013, DUI accident in Juniata County. This would be a fairly unremarkable event, but for what happened after the accident. The State Police allege that the defendant tried to flee...
What is a Status Based Aggravated Assault?
In Pennsylvania, assaults are divided into two major categories: aggravated assault and simple assault. Generally, simple assault entails infliction of bodily injury, while aggravated assault entails either inflicting or attempting to inflict serious bodily injury....
DUI and Traffic Stops: What Passengers Need to Know
Reese Witherspoon's recent arrest for disorderly conduct illustrates the need to properly behave when you are a passenger in a vehicle stopped by the police. Obviously, only the driver can be charged with DUI or a traffic violation, but quite frequently, passengers...
DUI Can “Happen” to Anyone
DUI is an offense which is not restricted by socio-economic class, ethnicity, age or gender. It can "happen" to anyone who drinks and miscalculates how much he or she had to drink, or those who know they are drunk, but nevertheless decide to take the risk. Usual...