Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania’s former attorney general is sentenced to jail

Former Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane was sentenced to 10 to 23 months in jail on Monday for lying about her leak of grand jury documents. Judge Wendy Demchick-Alloy also sentenced Kane to eight years of probation, report WTAE, the Philadelphia Inquirer and Pennlive.com. Kane had faced a maximum sentence…

Oct 24, 2016 2:56 PM CDT

Lawyer pleads guilty to raping unconscious client

A criminal defense lawyer in Pennsylvania pleaded guilty earlier this month to raping an unconscious client. Norristown lawyer Vincent Cirillo Jr. pleaded guilty Oct. 4 to rape of an unconscious person after jury selection had started for his trial, Philly.com, the Delco Times and CBS Philly report. Prosecutors dropped four…

Oct 17, 2016 12:54 PM CDT

Lawyer is ordered to pay $1.75M in punitive damages for alleged meritless suit

A Philadelphia-area lawyer has been found liable for $1.75 million in punitive damages for an alleged meritless lawsuit he filed against a former Cozen O’Connor lawyer.

Oct 6, 2016 8:00 AM CDT

Pennsylvania supremes allow suit alleging inadequate funding for public defender office

Indigent criminal defendants may sue for alleged inadequate funding in a Pennsylvania public defender’s office, the state supreme court has ruled. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled (PDF) on Wednesday in the suit against Luzerne County, report the Citizens’ Voice, the Associated Press and the Sixth Amendment Center. The ABA had…

Sep 30, 2016 10:37 AM CDT

Former general counsel pleads guilty to robbing bank; he had been out of work

A former Pennsylvania lawyer who agreed to disbarment after his arrest in a bank robbery pleaded guilty in the case on Wednesday. The 58-year-old lawyer, Steven Cormier of Walnutport, was sentenced to 18 to 36 months in prison after he pleaded guilty to robbery, theft and receiving stolen property, the…

Sep 30, 2016 9:43 AM CDT

Judge who sees many opioid cases supports involuntary treatment for those who survive overdoses

In one northeast Pennsylvania county, more than 50 percent of people arrested for driving under the influence reportedly have drugs and alcohol in their system. For the most part, the drugs that show up are heroin, Oxycontin and Percocet, Michael Barrasse, Lackawanna County’s president judge, told the Times-Tribune editorial board.…

Sep 14, 2016 10:15 AM CDT

Autism awareness project trains Pennsylvania’s juvenile judges

For children with autism, social interaction, communication and behavioral development are common challenges. Those challenges are compounded when an autistic child gets wrapped up in the criminal justice system.

Sep 1, 2016 3:50 AM CDT

Pennsylvania attorney general is convicted; she announces resignation

Updated: Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane was convicted Monday of all charges, including perjury and obstruction, in her trial for leaking grand jury information and lying about it. Jurors convicted Kane after hearing four days of testimony from prosecution witnesses, Pennlive.com reports. The defense did not call any witnesses. Jurors…

Aug 16, 2016 9:07 AM CDT

Pennsylvania AG doesn’t testify in her obstruction trial; reporter won’t say who leaked documents

Defense lawyers for Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane rested without calling any witnesses on Friday in Kane’s trial on charges of obstruction and perjury. Kane told Judge Wendy Demchick-Alloy she had decided not to testify after listening to the state’s case. “I don’t believe it’s necessary for me to testify…

Aug 12, 2016 3:17 PM CDT

‘I wasn’t a pedophile,’ Sandusky testifies in retrial bid

Former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky took the stand on Friday in a bid for a new trial and declared his innocence. “I wasn’t a pedophile,” Sandusky said. “I wasn’t a preferential sex predator. I wasn’t the monster I was made out to be.” Philly.com and Pennlive.com have…

Aug 12, 2016 2:26 PM CDT

Sandusky will testify in new trial bid targeting his defense lawyers

Lawyers for former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky are arguing his lawyer erred by allowing an interview with Bob Costas and failing to put Sandusky on the stand rebut victim testimony in his child-molestation trial. Judge John Cleland of Centre County, Pennsylvania, is holding three days of evidentiary…

Aug 12, 2016 9:07 AM CDT

One-time law firm partner without law degree is sentenced for unlicensed practice, forgery

A Pennsylvania woman who was a law firm partner, despite having no law license, was sentenced to prison on Tuesday. Kimberly Kitchen, a former estate-planning partner at BMZ Law, was sentenced to two to five years in prison, WJACTV reports. She had practiced law at BMZ for 10 years and…

Jul 20, 2016 9:22 AM CDT

Lawyer making routine list discovered law-firm partner didn’t have law license; she gets prison time

Updated: If Greg Jackson hadn’t taken his routine paperwork seriously, a former county bar president might not be facing prison time for the unauthorized practice of law. Jackson had been assigned to compile a list of the two dozen members of the Huntingdon County Bar Association in Pennsylvania shortly before…

Jul 19, 2016 8:30 AM CDT

Ex-prosecutor charged with assault; she turned herself in when Starbucks video was made public

A former prosecutor who has reportedly been working as a Philadelphia partner for a litigation boutique turned herself in to police last month after video of an April incident at a Starbucks near her Center City office was made public. Identified Friday by police, Yvonne Barnes Montgomery, 47, now faces…

Jun 6, 2016 11:40 AM CDT

Retirement ends 54-year career of longest-serving US court clerk

When Michael Kunz started working as a deputy federal district court clerk in Philadelphia in 1962, the president of the United States was John F. Kennedy. The IBM Selectric typewriter, with its innovative “golf ball” of typeface characters, was a marvel of modern technology—cellphones and the Internet were unheard of,…

Jun 6, 2016 5:45 AM CDT