That’s hearsay!: The excited-utterance exception

This short post is the third installment on the topic of hearsay.  Specifically, addressed here is the second of the 16 hearsay exceptions known as the excited-utterance exception.  The exception is…


The many ways to lose your driver’s license and the repercussions that follow

A driver’s license is a privilege, not a right.  But it is an indispensable privilege, one that enables us to commute to work (to make a living) and to remain socially connected with one another.…


Professionals beware: there’s direct consequences then there’s collateral consequences.

Any person accused of committing a crime will face certain consequences if convicted.  It may be a fine, probation, or the loss of liberty.  These are called direct consequences. Aside from direct…


That’s hearsay!: The present-sense-impression exception

This post follows up to my initial post of March 30, 2017 on the topic of hearsay.  In this short post, I discuss the first of what Pennsylvania recognizes as 16 exceptions to hearsay.  That is, in…


A win from the Pa. Supreme Court for unrepresented prisoners

Last week, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court decided Commonwealth v. Burton, ____ A.3d ____, 2017 WL 1149203 (Pa., Mar. 28, 2017).  The case involved what is known as the “public-record presumption.”…