2023 in Review for Pietropaolo Law Offices
A very happy, blessed, and healthy New Year to all. A year in review for clients of Pietropaolo Law Offices has been, in a word, positive. Defining whether a case has ended good, bad, or as expected, and anywhere in between, is a difficult proposition because that measure is subjective. Each individual client has a measure of what constitutes success in each of their individual cases, and rightly so. There is no one size fits all measure when it comes to classifying the results of a criminal case. There are also huge amounts of factors that can impact a case: what county are you prosecuted in, who is your individual prosecutor, what judge are you assigned to, for crimes involving alleged victims how interested are they in any particular result, and what is the risk of jail time, just to name a few.
All that being said, I believe I can analyze in broad strokes what I’ve been able to do for my clients over the past year based on my own measurement of success on a case-by-case basis. Overall, I prioritize results in cases as follows: (1) keep the client out of jail, (2) prevent the client from having a felony conviction, (3) prevent the client from having a criminal conviction, and (4) prevent the client from having any conviction (in other words have the case dismissed or have the client found not guilty).
Aside from that framework, I can more readily determine success in a case based on what happened if the case was actually litigated in Court. In terms of litigation this year, we were able to achieve several excellent results, the most notable of which are listed below.
In Com v. R.C. my client was charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon for stabbing the victim in the head. The Commonwealth was forced to withdraw their case against my client after the Court granted suppression of a faulty identification of my client by the victim after police had to administer two photo arrays because the victim didn’t identify my client in the first photo array. The identification was so tainted that its reliability could never have been relied upon and therefore violated my client’s right to due process of law.
In Com v. AD my client was charged with felony carrying a firearm without a license for having a gun near her in a car in which she was travelling. The Commonwealth was forced to withdraw their case after the Court agreed with our argument that the police had searched the vehicle in violation of my client’s right against unreasonable search and seizure. This victory prevented my client from becoming a felon and from having a criminal record.
In another matter that never actually became a criminal case, police in the City of Duquesne attempted to elicit an incriminating statement from my client by bringing him in for an interview without an attorney and pressuring him to admitting to possessing numerous firearms and ammunition. This client, RS, was a person not to possess a firearm under Pennsylvania and Federal Law and would have been in line for very serious felony charges that would have landed him in prison for years. Thankfully, he called me prior to responding to police. After speaking briefly with the Officer, I informed him that RS would not cooperate with them nor give any statements. Since then, police have been unable to bring any case against RS because without a statement, the other apparent evidence against him was too weak to initiate a case.
In Com v. JB, the Commonwealth charged my client with a host of charges including a felony carrying a firearm without a license, possessing instruments of crime, prohibited offensive weapon, recklessly endangering another person, and impersonating a public servant for his role in following an older woman on the roadway who had cut him off and who was speeding. My client was alleged to have followed her for miles on the roadway and then berated the woman for her driving style. Police later stopped my client and searched his vehicle where they found assorted weaponry and police style clothing. Based on their search police attempted to create a story where my client was supposed to have used some of those items, which my client kept only for collector purposes, to force the woman to submit to his authority. Fortunately, the trial revealed that he never held himself out to be a police officer, nor did he ever attempt to get his accuser to submit to him in any way. Further, his firearm license had expired within 30 days of when police arrested him, meaning that he was not carrying a firearm without a license per the statute. In all, my client was saved a felony conviction in this case, as well as multiple convictions that would’ve resulted from the inaccurate way he was portrayed by the police.
Aside from cases fought out in Court, I was able to prevent my clients from having felony criminal records on fourteen separate occasions when the facts of the case indicated were not in their favor. I also helped to prevent my clients from having criminal records when they otherwise would have on eleven separate occasions. Finally, in consultation with all of my clients over the year 2023, forty-four results were better than expected when I was first retained, four were as expected when I was first retained, and twice the result was worse than first expected.
Aside from the successful year we’ve had in criminal court, Pietropaolo Law also took the opportunity in 2023 to expand into assisting clients with restoring PennDOT suspended drivers’ licenses in an attempt to help people lawfully regain an essential privilege, especially in western Pennsylvania where public transit isn’t as readily available as in the larger cities on the east coast.
Overall, 2023 was a good year for my clients and for myself. I pride myself on providing consistently excellent service to my clients and for going the extra mile for them wherever possible and wherever it will make a difference for them. I look forward to continuing into 2024 with that same attitude. On a professional level, I was also recognized for the second time by the National Academy of Criminal Defense Attorneys as being a top ten under 40-year-old criminal defense attorney in Pennsylvania.
While I hope 2024 is a good year for everyone and that you stay out of contact with the criminal justice system, the reality is that even if you haven’t committed a crime or done anything to cause trouble, trouble will sometimes find you, especially if the police believe you to be guilty of something. So, as I’ve been saying since I opened this office, if you are facing a criminal case, a traffic case, or need to try and get your driver’s license back be safe, be smart, and be prepared by calling Pietropaolo Law Offices.
Domenic Pietropaolo, Esq.
