Legal Question in Criminal Law in Pennsylvania

Re: Gagnon/morrissey

If you are on probation or county parole in PA and you get detained for any number of reasons you first get a basic administrative hearing called Gagnon I to determine if your should be detained (held in custody) until your Gagnon II hearing or if you should be allowed to go home until the Gagnon II hearing. The Gagnon II hearing is the actual violation hearing because a real judge who will determine whether you are in technical and/or direct violation of your probation or county parole and may re-sentence you to additional time and/or conditions.

In some counties in PA, the probationer is NOT present for their Gagnon I hearing. If this is is the case in your county, you can hire a lawyer to file a petition with the back Judge asking for a detainer hearing, which actually means that you want an official Gagnon I, not an administrative hearing.

If the person is on state parole, that is an entirely different issue.