Legal Question in Criminal Law in Pennsylvania

on my brothers behalf

my question what type of things can be missible on a police criminal complaint since the officer is duly sworn according to law to make sure facts are true and correct to best of his knowledge. like the deffendents name is wrong. so isn,t that something that should true and correct since he sworn to it bye signing it? please let me know. plus what type of stuff should i look for when somthing can be ruled out or dismissed?


Asked on 1/19/08, 2:13 am

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

Re: on my brothers behalf

The criminal complaint isn't evidence, it is a pleading. Evidence is used to support a pleading. Technical errors like mis-spelling a name are not reason for dismissal unless the defendant is prejudiced by the error. Showing prejudice from a technical error is something that is nearly impossible to do in most County Courts.

I had a couple cases a few years ago where the Preliminary Hearing wasn't scheduled within the time allowed and in the interim the blood test samples were destroyed so that my client did not have the opportunity to have his or her own testing done. I lost the arguments that my clients were prejudiced although I understand that at least one attorney won the identical argument in a different county.

Read more
Answered on 1/19/08, 11:40 am


Related Questions & Answers

More Criminal Law questions and answers in Pennsylvania