Automatic Expungements in Philadelphia County

I got cited with a summary citation. I appeared in court and I was told that if I go to a class or if I do community service, the case will be discharged. I was also told the matter would be automatically expunged from my record and the citation will not show up on a criminal record check. After I did all of these things, I went and checked my record. The summary arrest is still there. Why wasn't it expunged?

I have no specific answer as why it wasn't expunged, but I know that the majority of these cases are not expunged and the record of arrest still appears. You must go through the process of expunging the arrest yourself to ensure the matter is removed. 

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State Detainers

I got picked up for possession of a small amount of marijuana and was released without any bail. I was on state parole at the time. I went to check in with my parole officer from the street and got locked up on the spot. I was taken to the local county jail. I was given an administrative hearing. A state detainer was lodged. I was shipped to SCI Graterford. I was not brought down for my small amount of marijuana case and the computer shows that I have bench warrant for not appearing. It seems like I will have this detainer until I max out because I will never be able to get my bench warrant lifted and fight my open case. What can I do, HELP!

You must call your lawyer immediately and have them contact the county court that issued the bench warrant and have your case listed for trial as soon as possible. Then your lawyer should send a letter to the district attorney's office and request that they prepare an order for your bring down so that you are present at the next listing. The order for a bring down is not absolutely necessary as Graterford has daily bring downs for many of the local counties, but I would do it anyway.

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Brady Violations and the Post Conviction Relief Act (PCRA)

What is a Brady Violation? If I have one can I file a new appeal under the Post Conviction Relief Act (PCRA)?

Generally speaking, under the Brady doctrine for discovery, the District Attorney must give you any discovery that shows that you may be not guilty. The true analysis comes into play when the DA argues that the piece of discovery is not in their possession. That's a tough subject.

However, the courts have ruled that if the piece of discovery is in the possession of the police, the DA must go get it and hand it over. This includes the entire police file.

There is a new case from the United States Supreme Court on this issue,  JUAN SMITH, PETITIONER v. BURL CAIN, WARDEN, No. 10–8145, 2012 WL 43512 (January 10, 2012). In this matter, the Court ruled that even the hand written notes inside the police file of the investigation officer must be handed over to the defendant. 


If a Brady violations comes up after your direct appeal, you can file an appeal under the PCRA to say that you had a constitutional violation in your case. However, to be successful on a PRCA you must not only show that you have a constitutional violation, but you must also show that had the information sought been turned over before trial and presented to the government, you could have been found not guilty, i.e. there would have been a different outcome. 

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Rape Shield

I am being accused of raping a woman. I never had sex with her. She is sleeps with many men. My lawyer told me that we cannot use her sex life as our defense in the case because it violates the Rape Shield law. However, once the DNA testing came back, there was sperm inside her. Since I knew I hadn't slept with her, I rushed to give the government my DNA sample for the comparison. After the comparison was made,  the DNA was found not to be mine. She then changed her story to say that I used a condom. I want to tell the jury that she sleeps around. I can't believe that the Rape Shield law is so strict. What can I do?

You are in a situation, where you can can partially pierce the Rape Shield. Under the current case law, you can file a motion to pierce the Rape Shield only to tell the jury that someone else's sperm was found inside of her. While this may not sound as good as being able to tell the jury that she sleeps around, you must understand that once the jury hears that she claims that you raped her, your sperm is not found, and another persons sperm is found, the jury will get the point.

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Do I Always Get Time Credit?

I was taken into custody due to a new arrest. The bail was too high for my family to pay. I remained in jail due to the high bail. In addition, I was on probation at the time of the arrest and the back judge put a detainer on me, so I could not have gotten out anyway. I eventually consolidated the two cases together before the back judge after seven months of sitting in jail. I was in jail the entire time. I received a sentence of 11 1/2 - 23 months plus 4 years reporting probation for the new case. The back judge violated me for my direct violation and re-sentenced me to my back time; I owe nine months. The back judge said the word concurrent, but did not say the words time credit. When is my minimum?

If you are in custody and you receive a sentence on any of the cases that were holding you in custody, you must receive time credit for at least one of the matters that were holding you in custody pending the outcome of the open matter(s). In your instant case, you must receive time credit for the time that you spent in custody for the seven months. Accordingly, your minimum should 4 1/2 months after the day you were sentenced. 

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