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PA Superior Court shoots down "second-second" DUI sentence appeal PDF Print E-mail
The Pennsylvania Superior Court has issued a published opinion on simultaneous sentencing for multiple pending DUI offenses.  It ruled that where a defendant entered a plea on two pending offenses where she had one prior offense within the past ten years, that one of the two new pleas should be sentenced as a second offense and that the other should be sentenced as a third offense. The Superior Court refused to accept the argument of defense counsel that both offenses should be treated as second offenses (a "second-second" disposition). The entire opinion can be found here. This decision appears to eliminate a possible sentence reduction strategy for defendants with multiple pending DUIs.
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Newsflash
In a decision issued on April 25, 2008, a panel of the Pennsylvania Superior Court ruled that an investigatory stop of a car with a loud muffler was permitted where the investigating officer did not have any of the required, specialized training necessary to issue a noise citation for faulty exhaust. During the stop, the driver was arrested for DUI. No muffler violation was ever filed. This decision essentially validates a form of pretext stops in Pennsylvania. The full text of the case can be found here. The dissent raises serious and legitimate concerns about the potential for abuse that this decision permits.