For the Defense - Vol. 3, Issue 2 - 2018 - 26

Allocatur grant: "Whether absent of finding
the Court of Common Pleas acted with manifest
unreasonableness, partiality, prejudice, bias, or
ill-will, the Superior Court of Pennsylvania erred in
finding evidence of another burglary committed
against the same victim, at the same location,
also without the use of forcible entry, and also
utilizing the same key to unlock the same lock
box containing the same alleged amount of
money taken from the same victim (3) years after
the instant alleged burglary is not relevant to
the defense of the crime for which Petitioner is
charged and tends to prove a common scheme,
plan, or design rendering the evidence admissible
as evidence of similar crimes, behaviors, and/or
acts[.]"
Status: Pending.
Amicus Authors: Justin C. Danilewitz, Andrew E.
Bollinger, and Morgan Haas of Saul Ewing Arnstein
& Lehr LLP; David Rudovsky of Kairys, Rudovsky,
Messing, Feinberg & Lin, LLP.

Commw v. Adams: Amicus Filed: March 2, 2018
Nature of the case: The defendant failed to
appear for trial, was tried in abstentia and was
convicted. The defendant was also sentenced in
absentia. Although the defendant was a fugitive,
counsel filed a timely notice of appeal of the
conviction to the Superior Court. At some point
while the appeal was pending and before it was
decided, the defendant was apprehended. The
Superior Court, however, dismissed the appeal
based solely on the defendant's/appellant's
fugitive status. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court
granted the defendant/appellant's petition for
allowance of appeal.
Allocatur grant: "Was it not error for the
Superior Court automatically to dismiss
petitioner's appeal without a merits review
when this Court's consistent jurisprudence allows
exceptions to a forfeiture determination and
petitioner's circumstances track those exceptions?"
Status: Pending.
Amicus Authors: Peter Goldberger of the Law
Office of Peter Goldberger; Jules Epstein of Kairys,
Rudovsky, Messing, Feinberg & Lin; Barbara A.
Zemlock of Perry Shore Weisenberger & Zemlock.
Commw. v. Braddock: Amicus Filed: March 15,
2018 (Defender Association of Philadelphia and
PACDL Joint Amicus).

pkratsa@macelree.com

26

For The Defense

l

cdonato@macelree.com

Vol. 3, Issue 2

Nature of the case: The defendant was
arrested for DUI. The officer took the defendant
to a medical center for a blood test, which
the defendant refused after the officer gave
the warnings provided in the DL-26 form. The
defendant was convicted after a trial by jury.
The court sentenced the defendant to 72 hours
to 6 months incarceration based on defendant's
refusal to consent to a blood test. The defendant
ultimately filed a notice of appeal. On appeal,
the appellant filed a brief which challenged
an evidentiary ruling and which also raised a
weight of the evidence claim. The appellant
subsequently filed a "supplemental brief" in
which she challenged, among other things,
the legality of the sentence imposed, relying
on Birchfield v. North Dakota. Although the
http://www.macelree.com
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of For the Defense - Vol. 3, Issue 2 - 2018
