Although the Pennsylvania Supreme Court handed down the opinion in Commonwealth v. Arter (Pa. 2016) over three months ago, on December 28, 2016, its importance to Pennsylvania jurisprudence, as it relates to the application of the exclusionary rule for unconstitutional searches and seizures at probation and parole violation hearings, makes it worthwhile to talk about so […]
Archives for April 2017
Pena-Rodrigues v. Colorado: SCOTUS Curbs Racial Bias
In the recent case of Pena-Rodrigues v. Colorado, 580 U.S. _ (2017), the United States Supreme Court held that when a juror makes a clear statement indicating that he or she relied on racial bias in convicting a criminal defendant, the Sixth Amendment requires that the no-impeachment rule yield to permit the trial court to consider […]