Legal Question in Criminal Law in Pennsylvania

Theft from a motor vehicle

My brother was recently charged - not sentenced yet - with Theft from a motor vehicle. The cop asked him if it is the first time he has stolen from a car and he said no he has done it before. Now he is being charged with MULTIPLE counts of Theft from a motor vehicle without any evidence of him doing the other ones. It all happened in a different county, so when the other robberies where being committed, he wasn't even in the area... is it legal to charge him with out evidence of him doing this? He just turned 18, and has never been in trouble before if that counts for anything.


Asked on 10/24/08, 6:06 pm

2 Answers from Attorneys
Daniel Cevallos Cevallos & Wong, LLP

Re: Theft from a motor vehicle

Have your brother give us a call as soon as possible. These are serious charges. No charge for consultation.

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Answered on 10/24/08, 8:29 pm
Brian Zeiger Levin & Zeiger LLP

Re: Theft from a motor vehicle

I just had a case like this in the superior court on appeal. The DA cannot charge you for multiple offenses for a single occurrence unless there is specific and direct evidence of multiple acts. The government must show a corpus (corpus delecti), that a crime exists.

feel free to email me with more questions, [email protected]

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Answered on 10/24/08, 9:31 pm


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