For the Defense - Vol. 5, Issue 3 - 26

Defending SCRAM Monitoring Violations:
Roadblocks and Considerations
Jack L. Graybill, II

A

lleged Secure Continuous Remote Alcohol
Monitoring (SCRAM) device violations account for
a large and growing percentage of intermediate
punishment ("IP") violations. The purpose of this article
is to discuss some strategies for defending an IP Violation
based on evidence produced through a SCRAM device.1
To give that discussion context, I will examine a case that
I recently handled where the Superior Court affirmed
the trial court's finding that the Commonwealth failed
to establish that the Defendant violated her IP based
on evidence produced through the SCRAM device:
Commonwealth v. Manzi.2 I will leave the evaluation of
the science to those qualified to do so.

Background
Ms. Manzi pleaded guilty in October of 2016 to a
DUI offense in exchange for an IP sentence of 15 days
house arrest and 60 days SCRAM, plus standard DUI
conditions. On December 17, 2016, the York County
Probation Office ("Probation") filed a Violation
26

For The Defense l Vol. 5, Issue 3

Petition alleging that Ms. Manzi tampered with the
monitor on November 13 and November 14, 2016,
and that alcohol was detected during the tamper.3
The Petition further noted that the probation
officer believed that Ms. Manzi consumed alcohol
on October 8 through October 9, 2016. Ms. Manzi
denied consuming alcohol on both the October and
November dates, as well as denied tampering with her
SCRAM device.

Attempts to Gather Information
Because Ms. Manzi denied the allegations, she
asked her probation officer for a copy of the SCRAM
report to prepare for the hearing. Probation denied
Ms. Manzi's request, but informed Ms. Manzi that if
her attorney contacted them, they would provide it
to her attorney. Probation failed to explain why only
someone represented by counsel would be entitled
to the report. In any event, upon being retained,
I reached out to Probation to obtain a copy of the



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For the Defense - Vol. 5, Issue 3

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of For the Defense - Vol. 5, Issue 3

Contents
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For the Defense - Vol. 5, Issue 3 - Contents
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