2024 In Review for Pietropaolo Law Offices
A very happy, blessed, and healthy New Year to all. A year in review of 2024 for clients of Pietropaolo Law has been incredible; incredible because out of the 55 cases I handled, 53 ended with what I call a “positive result.” Defining whether a case has ended with a positive, bad, or as expected, result, 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. W.B. my client was charged with a host of sex assault related offenses, including aggravated indecent assault on a child, indecent assault, and corruption of minors. W.B. fought these charges for two years before I became his attorney. In the fall of 2024, we proceeded to a Jury Trial in Armstrong County. The prosecution relied upon the testimony of the alleged child victim, her mother (W.B.’s ex-wife), and numerous “expert” witnesses in the field of child sex crimes. During the prosecution’s case, I was able to successfully dismantle each and every witness’s testimony, showing the flawed analysis of the “experts,” the motivation that the child and W.B.’s ex-wife had to lie about the allegations, the utter lack of any physical evidence to back up the allegations, the lack of opportunity W.B. had to perpetrate any of the allegations, and more. W.B. also took the stand in his own defense, and his testimony, sincere and credible, showed that W.B. did not and would not have committed these heinous allegations. In the end, the Jury saw the case for what it was, a pack of lies, and acquitted W.B. after just 55 minutes of deliberations. W.B. had been looking at a penalty of between 10-20 years in prison, on the low end before trial. He’d also been held in jail while fighting the charges for 2 years, all the while maintaining his innocence. Fortunately, we beat this case and W.B., after suffering through the most difficult two years of his life, is now a free man, looking to rebuild his life.
In Com v. D.B. my client was charged with felony level insurance fraud for reporting several Rolex watches stolen while on a vacation in Georgia, though police alleged that the watches were not in fact stolen. D.B had been under investigation for a host of fraud related offenses when police were able to secure a search warrant for his home. While executing this lawful search, police located two separate watch boxes after which they began to handle the boxes which contained the watches, even going inside the box, under the pad where the watch rests, to recover a receipt for the watches and their serial numbers. Police successfully matched one of the serial numbers on the watches to the serial number of a box that D.B. had reported stolen. Police got greedy because the search warrant did not include anything regarding searching for or seizing any Rolex watches. Therefore, the search done by the police to locate the serial numbers on the watches was illegal and the court agreed, suppressing the watches from evidence. Without the watches, the prosecution was forced to withdraw their case.
In Com v. D.B. (yes a separate client) my juvenile client was alleged to have taken part in a robbery. D.B., just 15 years old, admitted to his part in this incident and abided by the juvenile court’s instructions for over a year, demonstrating that he could turn his life around. D.B. went from a situation where he had been in a very difficult family situation, and instead ended up living with an uncle who stepped into a father figure role with D.B. Despite D.B.’s obvious commitment to bettering himself and demonstrating his rehabilitation, the prosecution sought to have D.B. adjudicated delinquent resulting in a juvenile trial. The juvenile court took notice of the excellent job D.B. had done and found that he was not in need of further juvenile supervision resulting in the juvenile equivalent of a “not guilty” verdict.
In Com v. W.G. my client was alleged to have illegally purchased a firearm. When purchasing a firearm, a form must be filled out affirming, among other things, that the purchaser has not been convicted of a crime for which their punishment could’ve been a jail sentence for a year or more, or that the person is addicted to illegal substances. W.G. filled out on the form that he was not addicted to any illegal substances which the prosecution argued was a lie because W.G. had been convicted of driving under the influence because of the presence of marijuana in his system. The prosecution’s entire case rested upon the idea that a single DUI conviction involving marijuana showed that W.G. was addicted to an illegal substance. I was able to have this case dismissed because the single marijuana DUI was insufficient to show that W.G. was addicted to any illegal substance.
Aside from cases fought out in Court, I was able to prevent my clients from having felony criminal records on five separate occasions when the facts of the case indicated the cases were not in their favor. I also helped to prevent my clients from having criminal records when they otherwise would have on 12 separate occasions. Finally, in consultation with all of my clients over the year 2024, 53 results were better than expected when I was first retained, 1 was as expected when I was first retained, and only 1 result was worse than first expected.
Overall, 2024 was a good year for my clients. 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 be effective for them. I look forward to continuing into 2025 with that same attitude. On a professional level, I was also recognized for the 3rd consecutive year 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 2025 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.
