Pennsylvania

Slain shooting suspect had been declared legally dead in 2014

A former Pennsylvania man who allegedly shot and killed two sheriff’s deputies in Maryland on Feb. 10 was declared legally dead two years ago. Judge John Kennedy of York County, Pennsylvania, declared David Brian Evans legally dead in a probate matter after Evans’ father died, report the York Daily Record…

Feb 29, 2016 8:44 AM CST

Ethics court blocks deal over Pennsylvania supreme court justice’s email

The second justice on Pennsylvania’s top court to face a legal ethics case over distasteful emails thought he had reached a deal with the state Judicial Conduct Board. But in a Thursday hearing, the Court of Judicial Discipline refused to let lawyers for either side talk about the pact or…

Feb 26, 2016 2:55 PM CST

Jury deadlocks in case against lawyer accused of neglect causing his dad’s death

A jury has deadlocked in the case of a suburban Philadelphia lawyer accused of causing his father’s death by moving the elderly man to his home, using some of his father’s pension income for his own benefit and withholding needed care. After nine hours of deliberation ended in an impasse…

Feb 26, 2016 2:35 PM CST

Once-prominent lawyer is disbarred following no-contest plea in assault of paralegal

A prominent lawyer has been disbarred by consent, after pleading no contest in 2014 to a misdemeanor indecent assault charge concerning a paralegal who worked at a law firm he operated. The disbarment of Robert Kerns, 68, retroactive to last February, when he was temporarily suspended, was announced Tuesday by…

Feb 24, 2016 1:00 PM CST

Man is convicted of 2 crimes, charged in homicide while awaiting trial in 2003 murder-attempt case

There are a number of reasons why 32-year-old John Brock still hasn’t been tried in a 2003 attempted murder that took place in Philadelphia. Among them: Brock was convicted in two other unrelated cases; went on the lam; was involved for years in a landmark speedy-trial appeal; lost one defense…

Feb 24, 2016 11:35 AM CST

Plaintiffs had no First Amendment right to take cellphone video of police, federal judge rules

A federal judge in Philadelphia has ruled that citizens don’t have a First Amendment right to take cellphone videos of police unless they are challenging or criticizing the police conduct. U.S. District Judge Mark Kearney ruled (PDF) on Feb. 19 in consolidated cases involving Richard Fields and Amanda Geraci, the…

Feb 23, 2016 9:40 AM CST

Federal judge orders lawyer to pay almost $116K for pursuing baseless employment discrimination case

A Pennsylvania lawyer with what a federal judge called a “consistently problematic track record” was ordered on Friday to pay nearly $116,000 in legal costs for the two defendants in an employment discrimination case determined by the court to be baseless. The initial opinion (PDF) by U.S. District Judge Matthew…

Feb 22, 2016 11:05 AM CST

Questioned in fatal shooting of state trooper, innocent man files civil rights suit

An ambush shooting in which a Pennsylvania state trooper was killed and his partner seriously wounded outside the Blooming Grove barracks was also bad news for Jeffrey Hudak. That’s because Hudak’s estranged wife had a relationship with the injured trooper. So he was initially considered a possible suspect, aggressively questioned…

Feb 19, 2016 1:05 PM CST

Facing an impeachment probe, Pennsylvania AG says she won’t seek re-election

Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane announced on Tuesday that she won’t seek re-election. Kane’s announcement “puts an end date on a tumultuous chapter in her once-promising political career,” the Legal Intelligencer (sub. req.) reports. “Kane swept into office in January 2013 as the first woman and first Democrat elected attorney…

Feb 17, 2016 9:54 AM CST

Denied new counsel, defendant uses profanity, but judge doesn’t take it personally

Denied new counsel by a Pennsylvania judge, defendant Jeffrey Knoble Jr. used an unprintable word at the conclusion of a Friday hearing. “Go [expletive] yourself,” he called towards Judge Emil Giordano, as he was being taken from the Easton courtroom, reports the Allentown Morning Call. The newspaper did not report…

Feb 12, 2016 1:00 PM CST

Blank Rome announces Dickstein Shapiro acquisition; over 100 remaining lawyers will make the move

Over 100 lawyers are exiting Dickstein Shapiro and joining Blank Rome, in a move that will more than double the attorney headcount in Blank Rome’s Washington, D.C., office and establish new government contracts and insurance-coverage practice groups. Described by the Philadelphia Inquirer as “essentially” a dissolution of Dickstein Shapiro, the…

Feb 11, 2016 4:10 PM CST

Ex-BigLaw partner is convicted of insider trading; feds say he misused deal info overheard at firm

After four days of trial and less than four hours of deliberation, a former real estate partner of Fox Rothschild was convicted of insider trading Friday by a federal jury in Philadelphia. Herbert Sudfeld Jr. was also convicted of making false statements to the FBI, reports the Legal Intelligencer (sub.…

Feb 8, 2016 2:20 PM CST

Pennsylvania AG fails to get her law license reinstated; state senate to consider her removal

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court on Friday refused to reinstate the law license of Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane, saying she waited too long to seek its reinstatement. The Feb. 5 order said Kane did not seek recusal of now-suspended Justice J. Michael Eakin “at the earliest possible time” and her…

Feb 8, 2016 9:11 AM CST

Judge OKs criminal case against Bill Cosby, rejects immunity argument

Rejecting arguments by lawyers for Bill Cosby and testimony by a former Pennsylvania district attorney, a Montgomery County judge on Wednesday said a sexual assault prosecution against the entertainer will go forward despite claims that testimony on which it is based was given under a grant of immunity. Cosby, who…

Feb 3, 2016 5:40 PM CST

Man is charged with filing appeal on behalf of woman he didn’t know

A Pittsburgh man has been charged with making false statements for filing a habeas petition on behalf of a woman he didn’t know. Grand jurors on Tuesday added the charge against 48-year-old Frederick Banks, the Associated Press reports. Banks is already accused of stalking an FBI agent by using his…

Jan 14, 2016 10:35 AM CST