Legal Question in Criminal Law in Pennsylvania
Hardship Clause and judges
Mine is a lengthy question. I live in Penna. I had a grand-daughter that was killed on March 17, 2006 by a drunk driver. He was caught 8 to 8 an a half hours later and brought in front of a magistrate. The magistrate put a $100,00.00 bail on him and a stipulation that he give the court a permanent address where he could be reached. We were told as family this man had no license to drive it was revoked and he had no insurance the truck he was in when he hit the van my wife was driving was a deceased members of his family. He came before the judge and told that he must enter his pleas and that was suppose to happen in November and this was may or june. A family member bailed him out and he was free. The other grand-father and I went to hear his pleas and it was not to our surprise he plead guillty. What was to our surprise was this the judge said to him you know you have a restricted license under a Hardship Clause. This was a shock to us. We were told a lie and this man was out with his license and possibly drinking again. The judge put sentencing for Dec 21,2006 and this man never made it. He was caught drinking again. He was seen in a diner and bragging he just came from the North Forty another bar. Judges are criminals also?
2 Answers from Attorneys
Re: Hardship Clause and judges
From a personal injury standpoint, you would pursue arbitration under the provisions of any insurance policies covering your wife's vehicle or your granddaughter.
If the defendant never appeared for sentencing the Judge probably issued a bench warrant for him when he didn't appear. Sometimes it takes a while for the Sheriff's Office to execute the warrant but it has been quite a while since December. You may want to talk to the Judge's Clerk or Sheriff's Office to see if I'm right but this is almost automatic when a Defendant in a criminal case doesn't appear for court. There are a lot of things I don't like about a lot of Judges but this time I think the Judge is probably not to blame.
Re: Hardship Clause and judges
First, let me offer my sadness and my prares to you and you family.
Usually, when i get questions from this site they are about a specific legal issue. You really did not state a question with any specificity in your question. Let me write out what i beleive were your questions and do my best to try to answer them.
1. Can you sue this guy for money? If he has any money or any property, you can sue him.
2. You think this guy should be locked up forever for what he did to your family and so that he can't do this again. Why is this man on the street and not behind bars? If he was arrested 8 hours later, he was not charged with a dui related crime, which is the problem. If he was charged with some type of vehicular homocide, he may eventually go to jail, but not as long as if it were dui. 8 hours later is just too much time to determine dui.
3. How is this guy walking around free if he didn't show up to his sentencing? He shouldn't be. If you KNOW that he got a bench warrant at his sentencing, if you see him, call 911, they will come get him.
4. You hate the judge, what can you do about it? Two answers. First--not much. Second, the judges in PA are elected by the people, of which you are one. The next time he is up for retention, you could certainly campaign against him. You have a first ammendment right to speak with the exception of proper time, place, and manner restrictions set upon that speech.
Good Luck to you. Feel free to email, [email protected], or call 215.825.5183. Hope I helped.
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