Legal Question in Criminal Law in Pennsylvania

my brothers behalf of his criminal complaint

trying to find out what what techinical errors like mis-spelling the defendants are not dismissal unless the defendants is prejudiced by the error. what does this mean prejudiced? and how is it nearly impossible to do in most county courts, when the defendants middle name is wrong?


Asked on 1/19/08, 6:08 pm

2 Answers from Attorneys

Brian Zeiger Levin & Zeiger LLP

Re: my brothers behalf of his criminal complaint

If someone was homeless and psychotic and they killed someone, but then refused to tell the police their name, so the police entitled the person "John Doe," should the homicide be thrown out? In other words, if there is a crime and a person is accused of that crime, should the misspelling have any effect on the prosecution of that crime? No, it should not. All a misspelling proves is that the cop who took the name down is either lazy, stupid, deaf, blind, or just made a simple mistake.

Prejudice means: a partiality that prevents objective consideration of an issue or situation. If you are prejudiced by something, it means that the something is going to screw you.

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Answered on 1/21/08, 9:51 am
John Gibson John W. Gibson, Esquire

Re: my brothers behalf of his criminal complaint

Prejudice means that the technical error in some way affects your ability to defend the case. The middle name being wrong is not enough to show prejudice even in counties where the Judges are inclined to give the defendant the benefit of the doubt.

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Answered on 1/20/08, 11:24 am


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