Legal Question in Criminal Law in Pennsylvania

ARD abuse of discretion

I am being charged with felony theft of service. I am being allowed into the ARD program, but the DA is making a stipulation that I pay the entire amount of restitution prior to entering the program. The legal community just had a discussion regarding the theft of service law and found that it was poorly written and truly is civil. I have no extenuating circumstances for this stipulation. No prior criminal and letters of character, but to no avail. Without admittance into ARD, I will be a convicted felon and this masters degree I have will be useless. This is completely ridiculous and outrageous. I am attempting to prove abuse of discretion, but all case law I have read usually allows the DA every type of behavior no matter how unreasonable. Just like a spoiled child. Please help me stop this injustice.;


Asked on 4/06/07, 11:49 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
John Gibson John W. Gibson, Esquire

Re: ARD abuse of discretion

Whether or not to enter a plea is always a difficult question. Theft of services is a rather hazy area because it is more like a collection case than a criminal case. Something like bad checks. However, if you are at the felony level, the theft is over $2,000.00 and the D.A.s condition for A.R.D. would probably not be seen as an abuse of discretion.

If it is a really close question whether this is a collection case or theft, say for example that you ran up a $2,100.00 bill calling Phone Sex Superstars and are having trouble paying the bill, you may want to defend against the charges. On the other hand if you used a fake identity to obtain a credit card and then used it to make those calls until you were caught, then A.R.D. is probably a generous offer.

Requiring all restitution to be paid prior to entering A.R.D. is a little unusual though. Usually you are required to make it during the period of your probation. Not knowing the precise circumstances I can't even guess at why the D.A. is making this a condition.

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Answered on 4/07/07, 12:55 pm


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