True Lies in Philly by Five current or former police officers from the 39th District of North Philadelphia were indicted by a federal grand jury this past February, accused of framing dozens of Philadelphians. The indictment accuses the officers of warrant less searches both inside and outside their district, during …
Mumia Speaks by Mumia Abu Jamal is the former Black Panther unjustly convicted of killing a cop in Philadelphia. A journalist and outspoken advocate for the oppressed before and after his conviction, Mumia was sentenced to death. Since he has been on death row he has continued his incisive and …
Death Penalty Challenged by Philadelphia Public Defenders by Dale Gardner Philadelphia's Public Defenders, Bar Association and Institutional Law Project Committee challenged the constitutionality of Pennsylvania's death penalty this October (1994), filing legal challenges in 78 murder cases including their clients. The Defender Association of Philadelphia contends the law is "broadly …
PA Limits Suits Against Defense Attorneys by Dale Gardner The malpractice suit against her was "a mere buzzing fly," said Patricia Dugan, a criminal defense lawyer in Philadelphia, PA. So rather than contact her insurance company and watch her rates rise she asked a friend to handle the case. Her …
Moffitt v. Meyers, PA, Plaintiff's Interrogatories to Mercy Health System Northeast,1995 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT MIDDLE DISTRICT OF PENNSYLVANIA GARY A. MOFFITT, Plaintiff, - against RICHARD MEYERS, JANUSZ WOLANIN, MERCY HEALTH SYSTEM NORTHEAST REGION, MERCY SPECIAL CARE HOSPITAL, MERCY HOSPITAL, NANTICOKE, and MERCY HEALTH CARE CENTER, Defendants. : : : …
Agreement Reached in State-Wide Pennsylvania Prison Case by On Aug. 12, 1994, lawyers representing the prisoners announced that they have reached a settlement with the State of Pennsylvania in Austin v. Lehman, the state-wide prison conditions case filed in November, 1990. The agreement has been presented to U.S. District Judge …
Court Returns Fines by In 1976, prisoners of the Allegheny County Jail in Pennsylvania filed suit against their keepers over unconstitutional jail conditions. Over the next 18 years of litigation, the court imposed $2,729,300 in fines against county officials who refused to abide by court orders to alleviate overcrowding and …
PA Prisoners Enjoy Right to Parole Consideration by William Marshall By William L. Marshall In an opinion entered February 28, 1994, the Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court held that under Section 11 of the PA Parole Act (61 P.S. § 331.22), while the PA Board of Probation and Parole ("the Board"), in …
PA Supreme Court Justice Sentenced by On June 13, 1994, Rolf Larsen, a justice on the Pennsylvania state Supreme Court for the past sixteen years, was removed from office and sentenced to two years' probation for arranging to have his doctor prescribe tranquilizers in the name of court workers. He …
Help Get Mumia Abu-Jamal Back on the Air! by Noelle Hanrahan By Noelle Hanrahan Sunday May 15th, 1994: The New York Times ran an AP article "From Death Row: A Radio Show" highlighting the next day's premier of Mumia Abu-Jamal's radio commentaries on All Things Considered (ATC). Most major dailies …
Photos Unlawful by Scott Lattany was a federal pretrial detainee representing himself pro se on criminal charges in Philadelphia. Lattany was taken from his cell to the jail parking lot where he and other prisoners were photographed by U.S. Marshalls. Lattany protested the picture taking as illegal and racist, one …
RFRA Supersedes O'Lone by O'Lone As reported in PLN, Vol. 5, No. 6, the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) was signed into law by President Clinton in November, 1993. It forbids government infringement of religious rights and claims. The RFRA is already being applied to prisoner civil rights actions with …
Detainees Have Right to be Vermin Free by Two federal pretrial detainees housed under contract in the Allegheny County Jail (ACJ) in Pennsylvania sued jail officials for a wide variety of ailments affecting jail prisoners. Among the issues they filed suit on were: inadequate ventilation, extreme temperatures, excessive noise, use …
Double Celling Pre-Trial Detainees Violates Due Process by Several animal rights protestors arrested while demonstrating against an annual pigeon shoot filed suit against Schuykill County Prison in Pennsylvania, and it's officials, alleging that the conditions of confinement during their stay at the prison violated their constitutional rights. The conditions complained …
Smoking Ban Upheld by In May of 1993 officials at the Berks County Prison in Pennsylvania initiated a policy which prohibited smoking by prisoners at the facility. Four prisoners filed suit claiming that the ban on smoking constituted cruel and unusual punishment in violation of their eighth amendment rights. They …
Court Rules Suit Waiver is Not Enforceable by This case involves release-dismissal agreements where a party will agree not to sue a government agency or official and the agency in turn agrees to either drop or reduce charges against the person. In many cases prison officials will have prisoners agree …
Third Circuit Announces Rules for Appointment of Counsel by Harvey Tabron is a Pennsylvania state prisoner. He sued prison officials claiming they had failed to protect him from attack by another prisoner. In the course of the litigation Tabron requested that the district court appoint counsel to represent him, order …
Bankruptcy Appeal Filed When Mailed by Three Pennsylvania state prisoners appealed the dismissal of their appeals from bankruptcy court after the district court held the appeal was untimely. Bankruptcy appeals must be filed within ten days, and in this case the prisoners gave their appeals to prison officials within the …
Prison Medical Treatment Law Explained by APennsylvania state prisoner brought a 42 U.S.C. § 1983 complaint against a prison doctor and hospital administrator, alleging that the medical treatment provided to him violated the eighth amendment to the U.S. constitution. The defendant hospital workers moved to dismiss the complaint pursuant to …
Cops Shaft Informant by In 1989 John Fay was serving a 15-35 year sentence for a second degree murder committed in 1973 and a 1984 armed robbery. While at the county jail pending a hearing on the robbery conviction, Fay came in contact with two guys who had just been …
