The Superior Court held that later expert reports did not create newly discovered facts under the PCRA when the petitioner had learned the factual basis for his claims from an expert report 15 years earlier.
The Superior Court affirmed suppression of a firearm because police detained a juvenile based only on an incomplete match to a generic description.
The published Superior Court held that Philadelphia police had reasonable suspicion to stop a pedestrian after an experienced officer saw what appeared to be a concealed handgun beneath his clothing.
The Superior Court ordered a new custody hearing after the trial court relied on psychological, substance-abuse, medical, and agency material that was never admitted or tested by cross-examination.
The Superior Court ordered new appellate counsel after an Anders filing treated direct appeal like PCRA no-merit review and failed to demonstrate an independent examination of the complete record.
The Superior Court vacated an order requiring a mother in a dependency case to disclose complete psychiatric evaluations to all counsel because less intrusive alternatives could verify treatment.
The Superior Court vacated a pretrial bail revocation because the Commonwealth presented no testimony or exhibits and the trial court relied only on an unsworn prosecutorial proffer.
The Superior Court preserved a restitution contempt finding but reversed a six-month jail sanction because the court did not find beyond a reasonable doubt that Zehr could pay the $3,000 purge amount.
The Superior Court held that an electronic service provider’s CyberTip report was inadmissible hearsay and ordered a new trial on the only count that depended on the report.
The Superior Court reversed suppression of a firearm, holding that a suspect had no reasonable expectation of privacy in a stranger’s pickup truck and abandoned his bag by leaving it in the open bed and fleeing.
The Superior Court held that an officer’s display of a gun, combined with credibility findings against the officer, supported treating the encounter as a seizure before the defendant abandoned a handgun.
The Superior Court vacated a custody order that effectively permitted relocation to New Jersey because grandparents with custody rights received no notice that relocation would be reconsidered.
The Superior Court reversed a 13-year-old’s residential placement because the juvenile court focused on firearm possession without adequately weighing his individualized needs and the availability of intensive in-home treatment.
The Superior Court held that SORNA II’s nonpunitive Subchapter I requires registration by an offender who began lifetime registration under Megan’s Law II, even though his offense predated Pennsylvania’s registration statutes.
The Superior Court held that a constitutional attack on Philadelphia’s public-carry statute was waived and could not be recast as a nonwaivable illegal-sentence claim.
The Superior Court held that cannabis odor supported extending a traffic stop and, after the driver admitted he lacked a medical-marijuana card, supplied a substantial basis for a vehicle search warrant.
The Superior Court held that a passenger’s nod and glance toward his waistband, combined with a stolen plate and the surrounding circumstances, gave police reasonable suspicion for a Terry frisk.
The Superior Court held that related criminal charges do not automatically require postponement of a final Protection from Abuse hearing and upheld the denial of an indefinite continuance.
The Superior Court held that multiple observations supplied reasonable suspicion to extend a traffic stop for a dog sniff and that the driver voluntarily consented to an interior search.
Superior Court orders a new murder trial over prior-bad-acts evidence J-S44005-25 2026 PA Super 156 COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA : IN THE SUPERIOR COURT OF : PENNSYLVANIA : v. : : : MICHAEL ALLEN STARK : : Appellant : No. 1648 EDA 2025 Appeal from the Judgment of Sentence Entered September 9, 2024 In the Court of Common Pleas of Bucks County Criminal Division at No(s): CP-09-CR-0003952-2023 BEFORE: LAZARUS, P.J., DUBOW, J., and SULLIVAN, J.